


Return to Storybrooke

by MadameCissy



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Swan Queen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-04 22:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 58,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadameCissy/pseuds/MadameCissy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma begins to have dreams in which she sees a dark stranger who knows her name. When Henry begins to talk about a place called Storybrooke, Emma is convinced her son is making things up. But who is the woman in her dreams who keeps calling her and why does Emma feel she has somehow seen her before? (post 3x11 winter finale)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time (but God, do I wish I did!) so I just borrow their characters. I'll put them back where I found them when I'm done.
> 
> Note: The promo gave a few things away but when I saw the end of the winter finale, this idea came to me. This is my take on how Emma and Regina will find each other again…

Chapter 1

"Kid!"

She knocked on her son's bedroom door whilst glancing down at her watch. Agitation settled in her stomach because she knew he was deliberately leaving it to the last minute to get ready. She rolled her eyes as she banged the door a second time. "Henry, come on! You're going to be late!"

The door swung open and the beaming face of her son appeared. For a moment she was struck by the way his eyes glistened and the grin across his face grew bigger. He had his backpack swung over his shoulder and was dressed in his favourite pair of jeans, a sweatshirt and a hat. She hated that hideous thing but he seemed permanently attached to it at the moment.

"Relax, mom," Henry said. "It's all under control."

"You won't say that when I have to pay another visit to the principal because you were late for school and you're grounded for a week." Emma sternly looked at him but couldn't keep up the strictness. Her face cracked and she couldn't help but smile. "Again."

"Told you I am more like you then you'd like to admit."

She watched him as he filed past her into the kitchen and she had to admit he was right. Not a day went by that she didn't look at him, struck by just how much Henry was like her. Some of the things he did, the things he said and all his mannerisms… it was as if someone had taken a male child and filled it with everything she knew about herself.

Being a single mother wasn't something she had chosen but she had done the best she could with whatever she had. She and Henry did allright together. They had their ups and downs and times had been hard but as long as they had each other, they always got out the other end.

There had been times where he asked for his father. Questions any child would have. She did her best to answer them but she didn't want to disappoint him by telling him that his father didn't know he existed and, even if he did, he wouldn't have bothered with him anyway. She didn't like to lie but for the sake of his heart she did. It was better to believe that his father was a hero who had died before he was born than to know he was a coward and a traitor who had hurt her more than any other person ever had. She wanted to spare her son that hurt.

Emma heaved a sigh and followed Henry into the kitchen. He sat at the breakfast bar and had just stuffed two forkfuls of scrambled eggs in his mouth. She leant against the counter and watched him. He even ate the same way she did, holding his knife and fork in the wrong hand. It had been a quirk of hers since she was a little girl and she'd never been able to change it.

"Any plans today?"

"School finishes at four so Alex, James and I are going to the park after."

Emma's eyes narrowed. "And what exactly will you be doing there?"

"Ice skating, mom!" Henry looked up and resisted rolling his eyes. "We've been talking about it for weeks and Alex is going on vacation for the holidays soon." He put his fork down, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and picked up the glass of orange juice next to his plate. In between two large gulps he added, "Besides, I still need to buy your Christmas present."

"Ok." Her eyes shot to the clock on the kitchen wall. He was cutting it fine once again. "You'd better hurry. I really don't want to take your Xbox away for the week."

Henry stood up, finished the rest of his juice and grabbed his backpack. He circled the breakfast bar, kissed Emma on her cheek. His eyes met hers.

"See ya later."

"See ya, kid," she answered as he walked out their apartment.

Emma walked to the bathroom, took a shower and got dressed. She then walked into Henry's bedroom and collected the dirty washing from the hamper at the end of his bed, straightened the sheets and opened the curtains. She glanced outside to see the skies over the city were grey and full of snow. The weather report on the radio earlier that morning had warned that a storm was on its way and judging from the clouds, it was here.

With her arms full of dirty clothes Emma walked back into the apartment, grabbed the shirt she'd worn the day before of the back of the couch and opened the door. The building had a wash room downstairs in the basement and she took the small key from the hook, double checked she had her house keys, and stepped out of the apartment.

She made her way down the three flights of stairs and reached the basement. It was always hot down here, with the three washing machines and three dryers running on an almost permanent basis. Emma unlocked the door to the wash room, stepped inside and hoped that at least one of the washers was free. She sighed in relief when she noticed only one was running and quickly stuffed the washing in the machine, switched it on and looked up to find her neighbour walking into the room.

"Hey, Rachel," she smiled and the redhead looked up.

"Oh, hi, Emma."

"I didn't see you around the weekend." Emma leant against the washing machine.

"Pete took me to Philadelphia for the weekend," Rachel answered as she began putting her dirty clothes in the washing machine. "Came back last night." Her eyes briefly found Emma's. "Did you do anything nice?"

"Bought most of Henry's Christmas presents. I swear, it's getting harder and harder every year to buy him something he doesn't already have."

"What did you get him?"

"Couple of Xbox games, a book, some clothes and the latest CD of this band he likes."

"How old is he now?"

Emma chuckled. "Twelve going on twenty-two." She looked down at the floor and then suddenly something found its way to the front of her mind. "Something weird happened over the weekend though."

Rachel had finished putting the detergent in the machine and turned around. "What do you mean, weird?"

"Some guy knocked on our door on Saturday morning."

"What guy?"

"I don't know," Emma answered. The image of the unexpected visitor had been burned into her brain. "But he was weird though."

Rachel's curiosity was triggered. "Weird in what way?"

"He was dressed like a pirate," Emma answered, unable to keep a smirk of her face.

"A pirate?" Rachel echoed. "Halloween has been and gone."

"I know that but I don't think he got that memo." Emma ran her hand through her hair and felt her cheeks flush an uncomfortable shade of red. "He said he knew me. He tried to kiss me. Well, he did kiss me."

"WHAT?!" Rachel stared at Emma in shock. "What else did he say?"

"He said my family's in trouble."

"But you're…"

"Yeah," Emma interjected, bitterness lacing her words. Even after all these years the pain still slumbered inside her heart. It crept up on her at the most unexpected moments. "They abandoned me. I don't have any family."

"Did you call the police?"

Emma shook her head. "I slammed the door and told him to get the hell out." She peered at Rachel through her eyelashes. "What are the police going to do? They're not going to look for some moron dressed as a friggin' pirate."

"Well, LaGuardia psychiatric hospital is only three blocks away," Rachel pointed out and shrugged. "Maybe someone left a door open."

Emma snickered and turned back towards the door. She held it so Rachel could follow her out of the laundry room. "Well, let's hope they've closed it now. What else are we going to find? A fairy?"

She and Rachel climbed the three flights of stairs to their floor and went their separate ways. Emma closed the door behind her, switched on the radio and got the vacuum cleaner. She loud sound drowned out the Christmas songs being played on her favourite radio station. Something about this time of year made her incredibly said and if was up to her she would forget about Christmas altogether.

It was Henry who wanted a tree. It stood in the corner of their living room, decorated in shades of blue, silver and white. A pile of neatly wrapped presents lay underneath it. Although Henry had said that he didn't care what she got him, when he saw the presents his eyes had lit up much like the tree itself. She liked seeing the happiness on his face. It brought happiness to herself to see him smile. He was her everything. He was her only person in this whole world. Without him she would be lost.

Just as she switched the vacuum cleaner off she heard her cell phone ring. It sounded pitiful. Henry kept telling her that she needed a better ringtone but so far she had just stuck to one of the standard tubes that came with the device. It lay on the coffee table in a position that even the slightest knock would see it fall to the ground.

"Hello?"

"Emma, its Justin. Sorry to call you on your day off but I was wondering if you could do me a massive favour?"

"Sure," she answered, her eyes drifting around the now relatively tidy looking living room. It looked like this was the best she was going to do today. "What can I do for you?"

"Nick's gone home because it looks like his wife's gone into labour. I was wondering…"

"You want me to cover for the rest of the day?" she finished her boss' sentence, already adding the extra hours of overtime up in her head.

"Would it be too much of an imposition?"

"Not at all," she answered and checked her watch. She needed to get changed and get to the nearest subway station or consider taking a cab. The latter would probably take too long. "I'll be there in an hour."

She hung up, threw the phone on the couch and crossed the apartment to her bedroom. She quickly made the bed, putting the pillows back in place. She opened her wardrobe, chose a black pair of slacks, a white blouse and a matching black blazer before looking under her bed for her boots. She stripped off her jeans and long sleeved grey t-shirt, put on the new set of clothes and brushed her hair before pinning it up with a large black hairclip. A few playful curls fell down the side of her face and she grabbed her purse of her nightstand, found her keys in the kitchen and picked up her phone from the couch. On her way down the stairs she sent a text to Henry.

_Gone to work. If you get home before I do, there's some cheesecake in the fridge. I'll get us a pizza on the way home. See you tonight._

She stormed out of the apartment building, almost knocking over some delivery guy, and turned right at the end of the block. The streets were crowded and noisy. People seemed to be coming from every direction. The sound of car horns, voices and music filled her ears. New York City was a place that never slept. A city of dreams and nightmares, of hope and of loss. It brought out the best and the worst in people. For some it was everything life could ever be, for others it was the thing that destroyed them, tore them apart.

Emma made her way down the stairs of the subway station, ignored the teenage kid playing his guitar whilst singing Christmas carols and joined the steady flow of people heading down to the platform. To her relief a train rolled in just as she reached the bottom step and she ran across, managing to find a seat a couple of minutes before the doors closed. She searched in her purse for the earphones to her phone, plugged them in and switched on the music. She released a heavy sigh as she rested her head against the cool glass. The music filled her ears.

"… _When an ocean sits right between us, there is no sign that we'll ever cross. You should know now that I feel the loss. I hurt too…"_

Thirty minutes later the subway came to a stop and Emma left her seat. She climbed the stairs to the exit and when she emerged from the depths below New York City she noticed that somewhere in between her leaving home and arriving here, the weather had changed. Fine, small flakes of snow fell from the grey skies over her head and she looked up for just a moment as around her the world rushed by.

"Looks like Henry will get his wish after all," she muttered to herself as she started walking in the direction of the office building where she worked. "A white Christmas."

When she walked into the lobby of the tall office building in downtown Manhattan she brushed the snowflakes of her coat and out of her hair. As she walked to the elevator she walked past the large black sign with big, bold white letters. Holden & Anderson Bail Bonds. She pressed the button and the elevator doors swung open. Emma stepped inside, pressed the number ten and the doors closed. Much to her irritation a Christmas jingle played in the elevator and she groaned to herself.

A minute later the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. Emma stepped out onto the brightly lit corridor and turned left. At the end of the hallway she opened the double doors and walked into a large office space with windows that looked out over Manhattan. Offices lined either end of the open space in the middle and it didn't take her long to spot the person who had called her.

"Hey Justin," she greeted her boss.

"Emma!" He looked relieved to see her. "Thanks for coming in."

"No problem." She tucked an unruly curl behind her ear. "So, what's the update?"

Justin's face fell. "Thomas Wright."

"What'd he do now?"

"It's what he didn't do, Emma."

She sighed. "Lemme guess, he skipped bail?" When Justin nodded she grinned. "Want me to find him?"

"You're the best we've got."

"I'll get on it."

Emma turned around and walked into her office. It was small but not too small. A window looked out over the street below and a larger window looked out over the rest of the floor. People were walking, phones rang and fingers flew across keyboards. Emma sank into her chair, switched on her computer and reached for the phone. At the same time she rummaged through a stash of files on her desk to find the one she was looking for. She pulled it out, opened it and her eyes scanned the information looking for any clues that could lead to her to her fugitive.

This was what she did. She found people. It was what she had always done although the times were she worked for a slightly dodgy company were well behind her. Holden & Anderson was a respectable office that focused not on small time petty criminals but high end clients like business men and other professionals who had found themselves on the wrong side of the law and required bail. It had brought her into the higher circles of New York life. It wasn't a place she enjoyed being, people's arrogance made her uncomfortable, but it had a damn good pay check and allowed her to give Henry everything he wanted and needed.

It didn't take long for her to become so engrossed in her work that the world around her just disappeared. She managed to get hold of her fugitive's business partner who told her he had no idea where he'd gone. She hacked into his phone details and soon discovered where it had been used last, narrowing it down to Queens.

She picked up the phone again, this time speed dialling the number for one of the bail bondsmen out on the streets today. That was another thing that had changed since joining Holden & Anderson. She did the paperwork inside her warm office, complete with its own coffee machine, and someone else got to the dirty work of actually busting someone's balls. Her days of braving the streets in the middle of winter when she could barely feel her toes were over.

"Hey, Sean, it's Emma," she said when a familiar voice answered on the other side of the line and her lips curled up into a smile in satisfaction. "I found our little friend in Queens."

She hung up, closed the file and glanced at the clock. It had taken her only three hours to find him. A knock on her door made her look up. It was open and a young woman stood in the door way. Emma didn't recognise her.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"I don't know," the woman answered and Emma noticed that she didn't speak with a New York accent.

Emma sat up in her chair, her eyes fixed on the woman. She couldn't put her finger on it but there was something strange about her. She was pale, with dark red hair that had been bound back in a lose braid. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Emma Swan," the woman answered and smiled. "I'm looking for Emma Swan."

"There's nobody here by that name. Are you sure you've got the right floor?"

"Yes," the redhead answered and she seemed a little taken aback. "So you're not Emma?"

"Yes, I'm Emma," Emma answered, furrowing her brow. "But..."

"Oh, I must be in the right place after all then," the unknown woman interjected and walked into the office. When she reached the desk she put the plain envelope down in front of Emma. The smile on her face was so bright it was almost blinding."Special delivery."

"Delivery?" Emma asked and picked up the envelope. There was no name or address on the front or the back and she looked back up. The woman stood in the doorway again. "I didn't order anything."

"I was just told to take this to Emma." She cocked her head. "So if you're name isn't Emma Swan, then what is it?"

"Emma Mills."


	2. Chapter 2

By the time she walked out of the office the streets were covered in a thick blanket of snow. Darkness had fallen several hours ago and the city had come to a gridlock in some places. New York was used to snow but somehow it still caught people by surprise. At the same time that it brought stress it also brought happiness. Christmas was only a few days away and there was something magical about the possibility of the white stuff being here on Christmas Day.

Emma joined a steady flow of commuters on their way home down the stairs and onto the train platform. Her bag hung over her shoulder, the envelope the unknown woman had given her tucked inside. She hadn't had chance to open it. Almost as soon as the woman disappeared her phone had started ringing and it hadn't stopped.

Emma took her phone out of her pocket and noticed the message from Henry. She unlocked her screen and opened the message. Already home. Can I have extra pepperoni on my half please?

She grinned to herself as from the tunnel her train appeared. She couldn't find a seat and instead found herself squeezed in between a young man in his twenties in a suit and tie and a woman in her fifties with several shopping bags. She avoided making eye-contact, there was nothing more uncomfortable than accidentally meeting a stranger's eyes, and focused instead on the music on her phone after having plugged her headphones back in. The train shot off into the darkness and she held on as the carriage swayed slightly from side to side.

When she emerged from the subway station not far from her apartment block she took a detour to swing past their favourite pizza joint. She waited patiently as her order was prepared, scrolling through her emails and checking the evening news. Once she got her pizza she walked back through the snow to her apartment. The wind was bitter cold and left her face red raw. It hadn't stopped snowing and the flakes got bigger and bigger. By morning the snow would reach almost to her knees.

"Henry?" she called as she stuck the key in the lock.

"In here!" he called back, his voice coming from his bedroom.

Emma walked into the apartment, dropped the pizza box on the breakfast bar and looked around. Henry had switched the lights in the tree on and her eye fell on two new presents that hadn't been there earlier that day. She smiled to herself as she took two glasses from the far left cupboard, opened the fridge and grabbed the bottle of root beer.

"Hey," Henry said as he walked into the kitchen.

She turned around. "Hi."

"How come you had to work today?"

"Someone called in sick," she answered.

He eyed her up. "You catch anyone today?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," she smirked and ruffled his hair. "But you know I can't tell you anything about that."

Henry lifted the lid of the pizza box and peered inside, examining the content. Emma slapped him playfully across his fingers when he picked two slices of pepperoni of the pizza and stuck them in his mouth.

"Did you do your homework?" she inquired as she carried the drinks and pizza box to the dining table.

"All done," Henry answered and slipped into his seat. He opened the bottle and poured himself and Emma a drink. "James fell and cut his head when we went ice skating."

"Is he allright?" Emma wanted to know. "Did he need a doctor?"

"His mum's a nurse. She patched him up."

They ate and talked about their day. Henry filled her in on what had happened at school that day, including the homework he'd been given. Emma listened. She liked hearing him talk about stuff like this. He was growing up fast, too fast maybe, and there were moments where she desperately tried to hold on to the little boy that was now slowly becoming a man. She knew that eventually there would be a day she'd have to let him go but for as long as she could she'd try to hold on.

When they were finished Henry took the empty pizza box to the recycling and offered to wash up the glasses and the plates and glasses from that morning's breakfast.

Emma retreated to her bedroom and sighed in relief when she stepped out of her black slacks and replaced them with a simple pair of grey sweatpants. She threw her blouse into the hamper and found an oversized baseball jersey in the back of her closet. Just before she was about to leave the bedroom she remembered the envelope she'd been given and picked up her bag.

She took the envelope and turned it over in her hands once again, wondering if maybe she had missed the name of the person who had sent it to her when she first looked at it but saw nothing. She opened the envelope and held it over her bed before she shook it. A single object landed on her sheets with a quiet thud.

Emma frowned as she went to pick the object up. She held it in the palm of her hand, inspecting it more closely. It was cut out of the purest glass she had ever seen. A faint shade of blue it was the shape of a horse… well, not quite, Emma thought. It wasn't an ordinary horse. It was shaped like a unicorn. She turned the glass unicorn over in her hand, looking for any markings, but found nothing.

"Mom?" Henry's voice came from the other side of the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," she muttered, still holding the unicorn. The door behind her opened and she turned around. "What is it, Henry?"

"I forgot to tell you, Mr Hammond is making us do work experience over the next few days," Henry said and leant against the doorframe.

Emma arched an eyebrow. "Work experience? What kind of work experience?"

"You know, for people less fortunate during Christmas. Shelters, old people, children's homes, that kind of thing."

"Oh." The word 'children's home' had cut right through her. It had bad memories associated with it. Memories that she tried not to remember. The kind that she kept hidden in the depths of her mind. "And what are you supposed to do there?"

Henry picked at a loose seam on his shirt. "I don't know." He shrugged, still staring at the floor. "Mr Hammons said we could choose what we wanted. Help cook food, read stories…"

"So have you decided what you want to do?"

"I'm going to the children's home together with Alex," Henry answered and Emma's eyes snapped up. It was as if he'd been expecting it because he held her gaze before she even had a chance to look away. "I remember you telling me that sometimes you felt really sad there, that it wasn't a happy place." His face fell and she could tell that it bothered him. "I don't want them to be sad during Christmas."

She smiled as pride welled up in her chest. "Oh Henry…" She saw his eyes light up and she fought against the unexpected tears burning behind her eyes. Her voice was slightly croaky when she spoke again. "So what are you going to read to them?"

"Well, Mr Hammond told me to go to the library to find something and I found this!"

He picked up something that had been leaning against the wall outside the bedroom and Emma watched as he carried the book across the room and put it on her bed.

"Fairy tales!" he said as he looked up at her.

Emma tentatively stepped closer to the bed. The book Henry had put down was big and looked heavy. Its leather cover was worn out and stained by the hands of time. It was embroidered with gold stiches around the edges and the letters had been written in the same gold stitch. Three of the letters were bigger and much more ornate, with fine drawings around them. It spelt Once Upon A Time.

Emma let her fingers ghost across the leather. It felt warm under her touch.

"What kind of fairy tales?" she asked.

"Well, all the ones you can think of," Henry answered as he opened the book. The first page was a picture of a woman in a wedding dress and her prince sharing a kiss. The next page was full of writing and another picture. This one looked more menacing. The woman in the picture had dark hair and dark eyes.

"Snow White," Henry pointed out before moving on to the picture of the woman Emma had been staring at. She had been unable to take her eyes off it. "And that's the Evil Queen." He turned a couple of pages, excitement etched across his face, and Emma saw more pictures. "There's Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty…"

"Where did you get this?" she wanted to know.

He looked up at her. "I just told you. The library."

"Okay." She wasn't sure why she suddenly felt so uncomfortable. Her fingers closed a little tighter around the glass ornament in her hand. She shook her head and quickly changed the subject of their conversation. "Have you had a shower yet?"

"I was about to," he answered and picked up the book.

She watched him walk out of her room and released the breath she'd been holding when he closed the door. Her heart raced in her chest for no reason and she felt beads of sweat glisten on her forehead. Slowly Emma opened her hand and looked down at the glass unicorn. Sadness flickered in her eyes as she dropped it into her bag, zipped it up and left the bedroom.

She fell down on the couch, picked up the remote and switched on the TV. She scanned through the channels before finding a movie. She pulled the blanket over her legs, propped one of the cushions under her head and listened as in the bathroom the shower was switched on. Outside the snow kept falling thick and fast. Tomorrow morning the world would look completely different.

Emma didn't really watch the TV. She didn't even know what movie it was she had put on. Her eyes grew heavy and the warmth of the room overwhelmed her. Slowly she drifted off into the land of dreams, sinking deeper and deeper into her sleep. She lay on her back, one hand tucked underneath her head, the other across her stomach. The cream coloured blanket covered her from the waist down and the sound of the TV slowly faded into the distance until only silence remained.

The only thing she felt and heard was the wind, pulling at her hair; it whipped around her face so ferociously that it made her eyes water. Snow covered the ground and small icicles hung from the tree branches. The lake in front of her was frozen, its surface a sheet of the purest ice. The snow was crustal white and undisturbed, other than her own footprints she had left on her journey here.

She looked around, her green eyes searching the vast, white landscape for a point of reference. Other than the lake, there was nothing.

_"Emma."_

It was as if the wind whispered her name and her head snapped around, blonde locks dancing around her head.

_"Emma."_

Slowly, step by step, she walked closer to the frozen lake. The snow was crisp underneath her boots and she sunk as deep down as her knees. The wind continued to whisper, breathing her name into her ear.

She reached the edge of the lake and tentatively stepped out onto the ice. It creaked, seemed to moan under her weight, but it held. She took one step, then another. The creaking grew louder but any fear that crept into her chest died before she even had a chance to consider it. She continued walking, further and further onto the ice. Her heart pounded in her chest so fast and hard she believed it would explode.

One more step. One more…

The crack was deafening and the ice broke underneath her feet. The water was freezing cold and robbed her of her breath before she had even gone under. All there was was pain. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. Instead her lungs filled with water and the pressure in her head began to mount. Above her, on the surface, she could see the sunlight casting aside the wintery clouds.

A face appeared on the surface, looking at her. Dark eyes stared down into her own.

A single heartbeat. Then two. Two heartbeats beating as one. The darkness continued to swallow her up, draw her deeper and deeper under the ice. The face was still there at the surface. Dark hair, dark eyes. Lips that curled up into a smile. A haunting image lingering before her eyes.

Emma sat up with a jolt and took in a large gulp of air. The blanket fell down to the floor and she clutched her chest. Her lungs ached. Adrenaline rushed through her veins and her eyes darted around the apartment, coming to a rest on the Christmas tree. In the distance she heard the sound of the shower running. Slowly her racing heart settled in her chest and she leant back against the cushions.

"What the hell…," she whispered to herself and ran her hands through her hair. She suddenly had a blinding headache. "No more pizza for you, Emma."

She swung her legs over the side of the couch and put her feet on the floor. Just as she was about to get up there was a knock on the door and Emma padded across the apartment. She peered through the spy hole and sighed, opening the door in relief. Rachel stood outside, holding a basket of dry laundry.

"I saw you leave this morning," she said and gave Emma the basket. "I guessed you didn't want to come home to laundry that needed to be rewashed."

"Thanks," Emma smiled. "Do you want to come in?"

Rachel's eyes narrowed as she studied the blonde woman's face. "Is this a bad time? You look kinda… I don't know… tired."

"Fell asleep on the couch. Bad dream," Emma answered and stepped aside to let her friend in. After she closed the door she turned around. "Can I get you anything?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Rachel answered. Her eyes fixed on the Christmas tree. "Oh wow, Emma. That's awesome."

"It's mainly Henry's doing," Emma said. "He cares for stuff like that."

"And you don't?"

Emma sighed. "Sometimes it kinda feels like… you know… wasted. Henry's getting older now and there's just the two of us. I guess I don't really see the magic of Christmas."

Rachel chuckled. "You really need to date more, Emma."

"Didn't we have this conversation already?" Emma rolled her eyes. "I don't feel like dating. I've got Henry and…"

"Henry's not going to be here forever, Emma," Rachel reminded her. "At this rate he's going to get married before you do!"

Emma stared down at the floor. Her dating record wasn't exactly fantastic. "I know." She fumbled with her jersey. "It's just that… all the people I've met… it just never feels 'right', you know? I guess I'm just waiting for that one person who does make it right." Her eyes drifted to the window. "They've gotta be out there somewhere, right?"

~()~

In a land that had seen much war and much sorrow, the waves of the ocean crashed against the cliffs and beaches. A full moon shone down on the dark surface, casting silver ripples across the sea. All was quiet but in the distance a sound could be heard. The sound of horses coming closer. Lit torches cut through the darkness of the forest that surrounded the beaches. Shadows appeared in the night.

From the depths of the ocean a lone figure emerged. The top half of her body was human, the other half a tail. The mermaid swam through the waves to the shallow waters of the beach. There she got out of the water and in a glow of silver and green, her fins transformed into legs. Dark red hair cascaded down her shoulders and her eyes were fixed on the shadows moving closer. One broke free from the group.

"Did you find her?" asked a woman's voice.

The mermaid nodded, relief etched across her face. "Yes."

The dark haired woman's eyes fluttered shut as for a moment she allowed herself to dwell on the pain in her heart. Pain that was now finally met by hope. She swallowed hard, the tears behind her eyes forming a distraction.

"What about the pirate?"

"I didn't see him."

"Thank you," the woman said softly. She slowly turned towards the group of people who had travelled with her. She knew they were relying on her. She lifted up her head and feigned confidence. She had come this far without them doubting her, she wasn't going to show her weakness now. Her dark eyes drifted across their faces and then she spoke.

"The Savior is coming."

Relief filled their faces and she heaved a sigh.

"Regina?" the mermaid called her back and she looked back over her shoulder.

"Yes, Ariel?"

Ariel hesitantly took a step towards Regina, wondering if she should tell her what she had learnt. "Emma Swan…" Their eyes met, hope met despair. "She isn't Emma Swan anymore."

"I know," Regina said solemnly and her hand hovered over her heart. She averted her eyes and looked down at the sand. Her voice was filled with sadness. Every word carried the echo of loss. "That was the only piece of me I could give her."


	3. Chapter 3

The forest was dark and seemed to stretch for miles. In the distance she heard the call of an owl. Twigs and branches snapped underneath her feet. The soil was damp and smelt of rotting leaves. She looked over her shoulder but couldn't see a road, a town or even just a light. All there was the darkness of the night. She avoided a large tree that had fallen down some time ago and stepped over the trunk. She pushed her hands a little deeper into her pockets and huddled a bit deeper into her coat as the wind picked up.

She just walked although she didn't know where to. She didn't know where she was. This wasn't a forest that she had ever been to before. Somewhere there had to be a way out of this, she thought. She didn't know how she'd ended up here but she had to get home.

_"Emma."_

Her head snapped around but the whisper had already died out. The wind had taken away the woman's voice calling her name. The brief flutter in her heart at the thought faded instantly. There was nobody else here. She was alone.

She heaved a sigh and carried on walking again.

_"Emma."_

She froze. "Who are you?! What do you want?"

_"Emma."_

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and increased her pace. Her steps became bigger and more urgent and a hint of fear settled in her chest. Her heart was pounding against her ribcage and she began to run. Low hanging branches hit the side of her face. The pain was sharp but it didn't stop her. She carried on running, faster and faster, the sound of her footsteps against the wet soil was dull but carried on through the night.

The well appeared in the distance. A lonely looking structure, forlorn and forgotten by those who had once built it. The hands of time had withered its appearance and tarnished the grey stone from which it was built. It stood on a small hill and the silver glow of the full moon above her shone down it, marking it as if it were a thing of beauty. It was anything but. It looked hideous, overgrown with weeds and cobwebs. It had seen better days but the thought of finding water drew Emma in.

She reached the well and placed both her hands on the side before carefully peering down into the darkness below. She couldn't see water. She couldn't see anything at all. Frustration kicked in and she groaned, turning away from the well and looking around. Her eyes narrowed when a movement in the shadows of the trees caught her eye.

"Hello?" There was a slight tremor in her voice.

_"Emma."_

The voice seemed to float through the darkness, dancing around her somehow. She turned her head but saw nothing. When she looked back to where she had believed to see movement, all she saw was a large oak tree. She sighed to herself and turned back to the well behind her. To her surprise, she could suddenly see water, only a few inches below.

Tentatively she reached out and her fingers broke the surface. The water was cold. She shaped her hands into a cup and scooped some of the water out but as she brought it to her lips, a reflection in the water caught her eye. A woman stared back at her.

She gasped and stepped away from the well, the water seeping through her fingers and onto her boots. The reflection she had seen wasn't her own but the face of a woman with charcoal eyes and raven hair.

_"Regina!"_

The sound of her own voice calling out woke her and she sat up so fast that she almost fell out of bed. Beads of sweat glistened on Emma's forehead and her heart was pounding in her chest. Her bedroom was still shrouded in darkness and her eyes instinctively searched for the alarm clock on the nightstand. 5.17 am.

Emma fell back into the pillows on her bed, an immense sense of loss suddenly washed over her. "Shit," she swore at herself and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. There were tears in her eyes but she didn't know why. "What the hell…"

She reached for the lamp on the bedside table and seconds later the golden glow chased the remaining shadows away. Her eyes darted around the room, the feeling that she wasn't alone still lingered. But her room was empty. There was nobody else here with her.

She quickly got out of bed, opened her door and walked down the hall. Henry's door was slightly ajar and she peered behind it. He was fast asleep, his face turned towards the door. She smiled. He looked so peaceful. Reassured that he was fine she closed the door again and walked back to her own room.

She got back into bed and lay down on her back; her hands folded beneath her head and listened. In the kitchen, the low hum of the refrigerator filled the air, and in the bathroom the occasional drop of water fell into the sink with a hollow pop. Henry hadn't switched the tap off properly after he had brushed his teeth. Outside she heard a car drive by, its engine roaring and its tyres struggling in the snow. The wind howled around the building, causing it to creak and moan.

Emma couldn't get the image of woman's face in the water out of her head. She was right there. Emma could still see her eyes. She'd seemed so lost, with sadness in her eyes, Emma thought. It was almost as if she'd stared up at Emma in the hope of seeing something, anything, that could erase that sadness.

She kicked the covers away and got out of bed. Her feet made contact with the cold wooden bedroom floor and a shiver crept down her spine. Emma padded across the room and pushed the curtain aside. The world outside was white. The yellow light from the streetlamps made the streets look like they were covered in gold. She sighed as she caught own reflection in the glass.

Heaving a sigh, Emma closed the curtains again and shot a final glance at the alarm clock. 5.26. There was no way she was going to be able to go to sleep now.

Trying to stay as quiet as possible she took a quick shower, rinsed the sleep out of her eyes and inhaled the sweet scent of her shampoo. She then got dressed for work, choosing a pair of navy-blue slacks and a simple but elegant white top with a round neck and long sleeves. When she walked into the dark kitchen and checked the clock on the microwave it was a little after six a.m. She switched on the lights, opened the fridge, took out some milk and found the box of cereal in one of the cupboards.

She poured the cereal into a bowl, added the milk and sprinkled too much sugar on top. She then picked a mug, put it under the coffee machine and made herself an espresso. She felt like she was going to need the caffeine to through the day today. It was a bad habit, one of the many she had. She waited for the coffee to finish and then carried the bowl and mug into the living room, fell down on the couch and put her feet up on the table before picking up the remote.

Morning TV was crap but she found a channel that wasn't showing frantic weather forecasts with hosts that looked a little too chirpy first thing in the morning or snow warnings and leant back, keeping one eye on the rerun of Golden Girls and the other on her breakfast.

It was a quarter past seven when she heard Henry's alarm go off in his bedroom. By that time she had watched two more episodes of the Golden Girls and was in the middle of Blanche dating a much younger man. She'd refilled her coffee cup twice but the caffeine in her system did nothing to make her feel better. It also had done nothing to erase the woman's face from her mind. She somehow just couldn't seem to shake it off.

Emma listened to her son stumbling around in his bedroom and then the bathroom. She heard him switch on the tap.

"Make sure to turn it off this time!" she shouted and was answered by some kind of growling noise that was a mixture of Henry brushing his teeth and him trying to talk at the same time.

When he walked into the living room dressed in a pair of jeans with a checked red and white shirt and saw his mother, Henry's eyes narrowed. "Are you OK, mom?"

"Yeah," she answered hastily as she looked over her shoulder. "Why?"

"You look like you've been up all night."

Great, she thought. My son thinks I look terrible.

"I'm allright," she promised him. By now he had his head in the fridge and he was rummaging around to find some breakfast. "You sleep ok?"

"Kind of a weird dream." He didn't turn around to look at her but poured himself a glass of juice.

Emma sat up and her head snapped around. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "Just some weird little town with all kinds of people in it."

"What kind of people?"

"I don't know."

"So how was the dream weird if it's just a town with people in it? That doesn't sound weird to me."

He rolled his eyes and she realised he'd been reluctant to tell her what his dream had been about. "Because they weren't normal people."

"Not normal?"

Henry picked up the bowl of cereal he'd made for himself and walked into the living room. He sat down next to Emma. He curled his legs up underneath him the same way she did. "They were fairy-tale characters."

Emma's eyebrows shot up. "Fairytale characters?" She grinned at the answer. "Really?" She watched her son as he ate his cereal. He didn't look at her. "Did you read that book before you went to bed?"

He nodded.

"That explains the dream," she answered and smiled at him when he slowly looked up from his cereal bowl. His eyes met hers and she could tell she had triggered his curiosity. "It's just your brain processing all the information. You know, like when you read or see something and when you're asleep your brain is trying to sort through all that information. Some people say that's why we dream."

Henry finished eating his cereal and the two of them followed their morning routine. Henry fetched his bag and double checked he had his phone. Emma brushed her teeth, applied the smallest amount of make-up she could get away with and they met back up in the living room before leaving the apartment together.

Emma didn't wait for the bus with Henry every morning and most days he would tell her he could walk himself but he didn't protest this morning. She also wanted to make sure the bus would be on time because of the bad weather and all the way to the bus stop she kept checking her phone, half and half expecting one of the collective text messages from the principal to tell her that classes were cancelled due to the snow.

When they reached the bus stop Emma looked down the street. Traffic was barely moving. It seemed that the snow had brought the city to a standstill and it would take a day or so for the roads to be cleared again but in the distance she saw the school bus doing its best to get to them and she turned to Henry.

They waited until it reached them and the door opened. Emma waved at the driver, a guy named Marcus, and Henry stepped into the bus. He turned around on the top step and Emma smiled. Just before he disappeared inside she called after him.

"Hey, that town you dreamt about, did it have a name?"

He turned around and nodded. "Yeah," he answered. "It had some weird name. Storybrooke."

Emma shook her head and watched as her son joined his friends who were already on the bus. "Storybrooke?" she said to herself as the bus drove off. "Really?"

She made her way from the bus stop to the subway station and bit back her irritation over morning rush hour. There seemed to be more people than usual on the platform and she struggled to even get to her train. Getting a seat was no option so she stood, her back pressed against the door. Just as the train began to roll out of the station and into the dark tunnels she caught a glimpse of a familiar face on the platform. Red hair, held back in a braid. A round face with soft features and kind eyes.

When she blinked the woman was gone and she sighed, rubbing her eyes. Tiredness had already taken hold and it was not even nine in the morning. She felt frustrated and mentally chastised herself. "You really need to go to bed early tonight, Mills."

~()~

The office closed early when another six inches of snow once again brought the city to a halt. It wasn't even one o'clock in the afternoon when Emma stuck the key into the lock of her apartment. She was cold, wet and tired and incredibly fed up. She dumped the few groceries she'd picked up from the store around the corner on the breakfast bar, kicked off her shoes and huffed as she pulled down her hair. On her way in her phone had bleeped with a message from Henry saying classes had been suspended and he was on his way home. Emma glanced at the clock. He'd probably only be another ten, fifteen minutes.

On her socks she padded to her bedroom and got changed. She then walked back into the living room just as the door opened and Henry walked in. He was covered in snow and left wet footprints on the floor. Emma grinned.

"Hey, kid."

"Hi, mom."

"Go get changed and I'll make us some hot chocolate," she said as she headed for the kitchen.

As she waited for the milk to warm up she picked up her bag that she'd left on the bar and rummaged through it until she found what she'd been looking for. The blue glass unicorn lay in the palm of her hand and she looked at it again. It was beautifully crafted and looked absolutely perfect yet she had no idea why someone had given it to her.

"What's that?" Henry asked when he walked into the kitchen and saw what she was holding.

"I don't know," Emma admitted. "Somebody sent it to me yesterday."

Henry opened the fridge to look for the cream. "You don't know who sent it?"

"Nope," Emma answered and carefully slipped the unicorn back in her bag. "Not a clue."

Henry turned to look at her and his eyes lit up. "Maybe you've got a secret admirer."

"Yeah, right," Emma answered, her lips curling up into a smile. "They really must be secret because I don't know who they are."

"Well, someone sent it, right?"

Emma's eyes drifted to the window. It was snowing again. "I just haven't found them yet."

~()~

A bleak midwinter sun shone over the snow covered lands, bringing much needed hope that perhaps the darkness was over. In the distant a lonely bird sang a lament song and in the village that surrounded the castle people did the best they could to fight off the cold of winter.

Regina stood by the window, her eyes peeled on the land outside. The snow had come overnight, surprising them all. Now the world looked peaceful but she knew better than to believe everything she saw.

Her heart weighed heavy in her chest and she reluctantly turned around when she heard the heavy wooden doors behind her open. The two people who walked in were two of the companions she had travelled with for some time. This was their latest place to call home. It never lasted very long. It seemed that they were destined to wonder, constantly searching for something to call their own. It wasn't anybody's fault but hers.

"Any news?" she asked when Snow White and Charming approached. Both looked tired.

Snow's eyes reflected sadness. "No."

Regina averted her eyes back to the window and continued to stare. Every day seemed to last longer than the one before.

"Regina…"

"We wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for me," Regina reminded them. She tried to sound stronger than she felt. "I don't need your pity."

"It was you who found the way out," Snow reminded her.

"And it was me who created the Curse in the first place."

Snow White looked at the woman who, until recently, had been the Evil Queen. Now Regina was nothing like the woman Snow remembered. She was only the shell of the person she once was. She circled Regina until she could meet her eyes again. "And it was you who figured out a way to get a message to Emma."

The mention of Emma's name filled Regina's heart with anguish. She bit back her pain. "We don't know if it will work."

"Before yesterday we had no hope," Snow said softly. "But now we do."

Regina swallowed hard and averted her eyes. "She can find us now."

Snow nodded. "Yes, she can." Determination laced her words. "And she will."

Regina turned away from Snow and looked back out over the lands beyond the castle. She couldn't deny that hope fluttered in her own heart, right alongside the pain. She didn't dare trust it, didn't dare hold on too much, because every time she tried to hold onto something, she would lost it in the end.

"She will come," she said softly to herself. "Emma will come and she'll take us home."


	4. Chapter 4

With only three days left to go until Christmas Eve, Emma's life had become a blurred mess of sleepless nights, going to work and battling the snow that continued to smother the city. Every morning was a fight to get to and from the subway, with more people crammed onto the platform than what was even remotely safe or comfortable. The days in the office felt long and her eyes continued to drift to the clock, longing for the moment where she could leave and go home. She was permanently tired and it started to influence her work when she missed a crucial clue that almost led to one fugitive getting out of the city if it hadn't been for the watchful eye of one her co-workers.

The dreams continued every night. Every time she fell into a different land of dreams but every time she saw the woman's face. Dark eyes followed her; lips whispered her name, called out for her. She saw her reflection in mirrors, in water, or just shadows moving through the trees. The fear she had first felt had begun to fade and she now began to anticipate the woman's arrival. She was no longer afraid and even aware of the fact she was dreaming. Up to a point she could manipulate where their paths would cross but Emma was never able to truly see the other woman.

It was Thursday and she stuck the key to her apartment in the lock. It sprung open and she eagerly stepped into the warmth of her home. Snowflakes had melted in her long blonde hair and her coat was wet. She peeled off her gloves, took off her boots before walking further into the living room and heaved a sigh when she picked up the familiar scent of hot chocolate.

Emma padded around the apartment and found the hot mug waiting for her in the kitchen. She picked up and let it warm her hands as she walked into the hallway towards the bedrooms. She peered around Henry's door and found her son curled up on his bed reading that by now all familiar book. The reading at the children's home had been cancelled because of the weather but Henry hadn't returned the book to the school library yet.

"Hey, kid," she said as she leant against the doorframe and he looked up. She slightly raised her mug. "Thanks."

He smiled. "You're welcome."

"Are you still reading that book?" she asked, narrowing her eyes a little. "Aren't you a little old for fairy tales by now?"

"No one's ever too old for fairy tales," Henry countered. "Besides, these aren't normal fairy tales."

Emma arched an eyebrow as she sipped from her hot chocolate. The cream Henry had put on top left a white mark across her upper lip and she wiped it away. "What do you mean?"

"You know, they're different."

"You mean they have the book has its own take on them?"

Henry averted his eyes as he turned the page. "Something like that."

She could tell he didn't really want to talk and she retreated after telling him that dinner would be ready by six. She carried her hot chocolate back into the kitchen and opened the cupboards and the fridge to see what she could cook tonight and eventually settled for chilli.

A familiar face flashed before her eyes as she turned around to the window to see the snowflakes fall. She was used to the fragments of her dream creeping up on her by now. She'd gotten used to seeing the stranger's face whenever her mind lost its awareness of her surroundings. It was almost like a memory, one that she never even knew she had, was constantly trying to force its way to the foreground.

She leant against the kitchen counter as her breath died in the back of her throat and her heart skipped an unexpected beat. It was as if someone had reached deep inside of her chest, grabbed hold of her heart and tried to rip it out. It was a pain unlike any other. The sense of loss and loneliness engulfed her.

"Mom?"

She looked up when Henry walked into the kitchen and did her best to hide her pain. But he was her son. He didn't miss the way her face and her eyes changed.

"Are you okay?" he wanted to know.

She noticed he clutched the book under his arm. "Yeah," she lied. "Just tired, that's all."

"You've been tired a lot lately," he pointed out and Emma suddenly realised just how observant he really was. She'd done her best to keep her disturbed nights from him.

"Just a lot going on at the moment, kid," she answered. Her green eyes searched his face. She quickly changed the tone of the conversation by asking, "What's up?"

"Have you ever been to Maine?"

Emma's eyebrows shot up. "Maine?" she questioned. "No, I don't think I have."

Henry's face fell. "Oh."

She sensed there was something he wasn't telling her and she switched off the stove so she wouldn't burn the onions before looking at him again. "Henry," she said calmly. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." It didn't sound convincing and Henry's eyes were fixed on the floor.

Emma folded her arms across her chest. "Henry…"

"It's just, I keep dreaming about this place, this town." The words suddenly poured out of him like a water fall. His eyes snapped up and met hers and she saw what could only be described as sadness. "You know, the one I told you about, with the strange people in it?"

"You mean the fairy tale people?"

He nodded.

"And you think, what? That this place actually exists?"

"It's in Maine!"

Emma took a deep breath. It seemed that she hadn't been the only one with the weird dreams. She took two steps towards her son and put a hand on his shoulder. Green eyes found his hazel ones. "Henry," she said, "There is no such thing as a town where fairy tale characters live." She pointed at the book under his arm and smiled. "You've been reading this book again, haven't you? C'mon, kid. Storybrooke, Maine?"

He seemed disappointed she didn't believe him and stepped away from her. She resisted calling him back when he retreated from the kitchen, knowing that he would prefer to spend time alone. She heaved a sigh as she turned back to the stove, switched it back on and continued to fry off her onions. The smell of food filled the apartment and she felt her stomach growl.

She wasn't the best cook in the world. In fact, Emma believed she was only just good enough to not let her and Henry starve to death. Most of her cooking consisted of simple meals; things that were almost impossible to screw up but even then she somehow managed to burn stuff. Friday night was take-out night. Most weeks Henry chose pizza but sometimes she could persuade him to order something else. Chinese was his next favourite choice and she was working on getting him used to Thai but with little result.

She and Henry had done allright in their twelve years together. There had never really been anyone in the picture relationship wise because she chose to focus on Henry. He was the one thing that kept her going and had managed to push her away from her somewhat dodgy past. Having someone to love was something she treasured beyond anything else because love was the one thing she lacked when she was growing up.

If you were lucky, a foster home would be a loving place but most of them turned out to just be another disappointment. The only foster home where she ever felt truly loved was her first one but when they had a child of their own they couldn't cope with her as well. She wasn't a handful but new born babies take a lot of time and effort, something a three year old required too. It seemed sharing that love and time between two children was just too much to ask and her bouncing around from home to home began there.

Moving from place to place, carrying her belongings with her in nothing else but a black trash bag, hoping every time that the next place would be the one where she'd stay until she was old enough to stand on her own two feet. That dream never quite came true and it was somewhere around that time that she gave up hoping that any other dream she had ever would too. Life just didn't work that way. Not for Emma Mills. It never had. Anything she wanted she had to work damn hard for and she took plenty of wrong turns along the way. The mistakes had scarred her but it had also made her the mother she was to Henry.

She'd considered giving him up for adoption. How could she ever be a mother to such a helpless, innocent little baby? But when the doctor had asked her if she wanted to hold him, at least see him before she said goodbye, she'd changed her mind. A voice inside her had somehow woken up and told her that she could do this; that she could be a better person for her son. From that moment on it had been the two of them.

Emma stared at what was supposed to become her chilli. She'd made the dish plenty of times before but somehow her mind had gone blank. It was as if every memory, every thought, had just slipped away. For several seconds she didn't think of anything at all.

Eventually she got going again and managed to produce a half decent chilli. She called Henry and he appeared from his bedroom having changed into his pyjamas. He joined her at the table but didn't speak. As she gave him his plate and a spoon she briefly met his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said and he looked up longer this time. "I shouldn't have said what I did."

He smiled. It didn't quite reach his eyes but she could tell he tried. "Thanks."

"So," she began when she slipped into her own seat. "What do you want to do this weekend?"

"It's Christmas Eve!"

"Not until Sunday," she reminded him, a smile working its way across her lips when she noticed his surprise. "We can do stuff on Saturday if you want."

Henry kept his eyes peeled on his chilli when he spoke again. "Can we go somewhere for Christmas? Like, for a few days?"

"You mean somewhere other than New York?" she asked and her eyes drifted to the window. To her surprise it had stopped snowing. "Why would you want to go somewhere else? The city's awesome during Christmas."

"I know, but everybody else is going on vacation." He looked almost embarrassed as he said it.

So that was what it was, she thought. All of Henry's friends were revisiting friends or family in another state during the holidays. When they returned to school in the New Year they always had plenty of stories to tell. Emma didn't have any family to visit so she did the best she could by giving him a magical Christmas every year just here in New York. This was the first time he had actually mentioned that he wanted to go somewhere else.

Emma leant back in her chair. "Where would you like to go?"

He peered up at her long enough for her to see the longing in his eyes. "Maine."

He didn't have to say anything else. She knew where this was going; what it was he really wanted. Even after she'd told him she didn't believe the town he kept dreaming about actually existed he still tried for her to see it the way he did. She had to give it to him when it came to determination. How could she not, he was her son after all.

She decided not to dismiss him immediately. "Where in Maine?"

"I don't know. Somewhere near the coast."

"Henry, Maine is a seven hour drive from here." Emma wondered if her old and battered yellow Bug would even surprise the journey. She'd been saying for months that she needed to replace that death trap but somehow she couldn't part with it. "It is a long way to go for just the weekend and the weather has been terrible so I don't even know if we can drive there. Hell, I don't even know if I'll be able to find us somewhere to stay in Maine."

"I know." He looked disappointed. "It's a stupid idea anyways."

"But," she said and her son looked back up, this time with anticipation etched across his face. "I'll try."

Henry's eyes snapped up. "Really?!"

She smiled. Seeing the joy in his face was reason enough to give in. "Yes, kid, really."

"Great!"

He finished the rest of his chilli in a hurry and offered to do the dishes. While he was stumbling about in the kitchen, Emma booted up her laptop and curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over her legs. With the help of her best friend Google she managed to find a list of hotels in Maine that were near the cost. A quick check of availability and prices told her that although expensive, most of the hotels still had some empty rooms.

She had never been away for Christmas. In foster homes she didn't get to go on vacations. There was never any money or there were simply too many children. Once or twice she had been shipped off to aunts and uncles, without Social Services knowing, so that the rest of the family could go away. She never got to come.

Emma couldn't remember if she had ever been on a real vacation at all. Not since aging out of the system and most definitely not since having Henry. As she typed in her name and credit card details to make a reservation at a small sea side hotel during the holidays, she felt excitement begin to well up in the depths of her stomach. The thought of spending Christmas away from their apartment for the first time was actually somewhat exciting.

"Hey, how does spending Christmas in a hotel by the seaside sound?" she called over her shoulder at Henry who was now putting the plates in the cupboard.

"Awesome!"

Emma opened up another page and returned to Google. This time she went to the maps section of the search engine and after looking over her shoulder to see if Henry was on his way in yet she typed in 'Storybrooke, Maine." A little sand timer began turning on her screen and several seconds later the page loaded with the words she had expected to see written in black and white. 'No search results.'

Storybrooke didn't exist.

~()~

The snow had stopped and the moonlight shone across the white lands. All was still. Night had fallen hours ago and people had sought out the warmth and comfort of their beds. Most torches had been dimmed but in the village square a small fire remained. The orange flames cast a haunting glow across the walls of the surrounding houses. From the highest window in the castle, the tiny dancing flames could be seen.

Regina's eyes were transfixed on the fire. She couldn't sleep. Most nights were the same. Haunted by images and voices from the past she spent most nights tormented and awake, unable to find the rest she knew her body and mind craved so much. Once upon a time a person had said that there was no rest for the wicked. Although Regina had never quite believed this to be true, recent events had left her questioning that statement.

The return to the Enchanted Forest had almost been a year ago. She'd watched the seasons change. Now that winter was upon them again the reminder that far too much time had passed since leaving Storybrooke tortured her. It had been almost a year since she was forced to say goodbye to the thing she loved most to save the lives of everyone. That loss haunted her every minute of every day. Saying goodbye to Emma had ripped out a part of her heart she didn't believe she would ever be able to replace.

A soft knock on her bedroom door made Regina turn around.

"Enter," she called with a weary voice and the door opened. Surprise filled Regina's eyes. "Snow."

"I couldn't sleep," Snow said as she strode across the bedroom until she reached Regina by the window. "I guessed you couldn't either."

Regina shot the other woman a sideways glance. A lot had changed since their return to the Enchanted Forest. Before the first Curse she had been focused on destroying Snow. Since then a lot had changed. They fought alongside each other now, had helped each other through the darkness that was loss. Sometimes when she looked at the younger woman she saw the little girl she had saved and she knew Snow could finally once again see the woman she was before she changed. It wasn't exactly another chance to start over but more like a chance to find the broken pieces and fit them back together, even though the cracks and the scars would always show.

"I've been thinking about Emma." Snow's voice brought Regina back to the present moment.

Regina stared back out of the window. "I've been thinking about Henry too."

"I know you never told me," Snow said softly. "But I want you to know there's no reason to hide it, Regina."

The Queen's eyes found those of the Princess. The harshness spread across her face like it had done so many times before. The wall went back up. Showing her vulnerability wasn't something Regina did easily. "Hide what?"

Snow smiled. "I know you love her."

"Who?" Regina's voice was strangely soft and her chocolate brown eyes suddenly almost hollow.

Snow heard Regina's breath audibly hitch and softly said, "Emma."

Regina averted her eyes. She didn't speak.

Snow cocked her head and searched the face of the woman she had long believed incapable of loving. Regina had done despicable things. She had tortured and murdered, committed crimes that would see her heart forever darkened. But she had also done good. She had fought for her son, she had done what she could to protect and to save him and made the ultimate sacrifice of losing him when Pan's curse came. It was in that sacrifice that Snow saw something she had never seen in Regina before: love.

Snow carefully reached out and put a hand on Regina's arm. "You love her." There was a brief pause as she took in the hurt that slowly filled Regina's eyes. Snow knew that hurt. She had felt it herself many times. She felt it now as she remembered Emma. Her daughter living in another world; a child who didn't remember its parents, who didn't know they even existed. "I think I've known for some time and I want you to know that it's okay."

"It doesn't matter." Regina bit down on her lip so hard that she tasted the sweetness of own blood. "Emma is gone."

"She will find us," Snow said softly. "She will find us and she will bring us home."

"She won't remember who we are," Regina reminded her. "She won't remember you and David are her parents. She won't remember the life she had for those few months in Storybrooke. She won't remember anything. All of that…. All of who she was… is gone."

"Ariel got the message to her. We know it has started, the same way it did before. The curse is growing weaker."

Regina's dark eyes found Snow's. "If it doesn't work then all will have been for nothing. We will all still be lost."

"She will find us."

Something on the horizon caught Regina's eye and she stared back out of the window into the distance. A cold chill rolled down her spine when she recognised what was happening and she turned to Snow. The younger woman had also seen it and her eyes snapped up to Regina.

"Is that…"

Regina swallowed. "Yes."

"How much time do we have?"

"Not much," the Queen answered and turned away from the window. "Gather the others. It has begun."


	5. Chapter 5

Regina and Snow met David and the others in the round table room two floors down from the bedrooms. The group had gathered by one of the windows and were looking out over the fields and forests but turned around when the doors swung open and the two women walked in. David eyes met those of his wife across the length of the room and the look on her face told him all he needed to know.

"How much time do we have?" he asked, now looking at Regina.

"Two days at best," Regina answered, her eyes drifting around the group of people who had gathered here. She saw all kinds of different emotions in their faces, from fear to anger and from hope to loss. For the first time in living memory she knew their fate lay in her hands and that knowledge made her heart feel heavy. "My magic is holding it off for now but it won't keep forever."

Snow glanced at Regina. "I never thought I'd see magic stronger than yours."

Regina looked at the strange mist forming at the end of the kingdom's borders. "Rumpelstiltskin's magic was always stronger than mine." She felt Belle's eyes on her as those words escaped her and she turned to look at the younger woman. Even after twelve months the grief over losing the man she loved was still etched across her face. "If we only had him now. He would be able to find a way out."

"Why would she do this?" Bella wanted to know0. She looked tired, with dark rings around her eyes. Nobody had slept much in recent days. "What has she got to gain from destroying the Kingdom?"

"If her Curse succeeds then we will all become part of it." Regina paced the room, clenching and relaxing her fists. The sound of her high heels against the stone floor bounced off the walls. She eventually froze in her step, her back turned towards the group of people who had become her allies instead of her enemies. The threat had brought them closer together. "What I did to all of you will be nothing compared to what she's going to do."

"Why?" Granny wanted to know. "Why is she so hell bent on destroying this Kingdom? How did she even get here? She must have crossed realms at some point so how did she get here? If she can get in then we must be able to get out."

Although the Enchanted Forest had always been their home, since returning here most people felt like they no longer belonged. They had survived because they had no other choice. It was what had kept them together. It had formed ties that no realm could ever again sever but it had also confronted each and every one of them with their own demons. Life in Storybrooke, even after the Curse had been broken, had changed them. Now living here, in a world full of magic and hope and everlasting love, felt more like torture than Storybrooke had ever done. But it wasn't up to them to go back. They couldn't.

Regina's shoulders dropped. "Shall we say that she's trying to settle an old family feud."

Snow took a step towards Regina. "You mean Cora…"

The lump in the back of Regina's throat was unexpected. "Yes," she answered. Bitterness laced her words and she turned around to look at Snow. The younger woman's eyes reflected sadness. "For once it isn't something I did that may get you all killed."

"So Emma is our only chance?" David asked and Regina nodded.

"If she returns to Storybrooke and releases the magic from inside the well, she can open the portal. It will stay open long enough for all of us to get through and everyone in this Kingdom gets to decide whether they want to stay or leave. But if Emma fails to open the portal in time…"

"We're trapped?" Snow finished Regina's sentence but the Queen shook her head.

"No, the portal will still open but by then the Curse will have struck and I don't know if I will be able to save everyone by bringing them to Storybrooke. " Regina looked down at her hands. "Also, Elphaba will be here by then. She too will be able to get through the portal and get to Storybrooke." Regina's dark eyes snapped up. "No matter the cost, she should never reach the other land."

Snow asked the question that was on all their minds. "What will happen if she does?"

"It will be worse than Cora."

They all remembered how the arrival of Cora had changed Storybrooke. It had changed Regina, and not necessarily for the better, but the arrival of dark magic in Storybrooke had left a stain that would never quite go away. The thought of another form of dark magic invading their lives wasn't something Regina was prepared to face.

"Is there anything we can do to assure Emma opens the portal?" Ariel asked.

"We've done everything we can do," Regina said solemnly. "It is up to her to listen to that voice inside of her now. We've given her the magic, now she needs to use it." Her teeth worried her bottom lip. "But she won't be able to use her full magic until she reaches Storybrooke…. Or what once was Storybrooke. The well will awaken the magic inside of her but only the voice that whispers inside her heart can bring her there."

Snow looked at David. They hadn't seen their daughter for almost a year. After twenty eight years apart they finally got to be a family but it had been short lived. Not a day had gone by since returning to the Enchanted Forest that they didn't think of her, even though they knew Emma didn't remember them. She didn't remember any of them. Her life in Storybrooke had never happened. All they had was the hope that somewhere deep inside of her a little voice would wake up and lead her to her destiny as the Savior once again.

Snow's eyes fixed back on Regina. It hadn't been long after their return that she begun to notice the change in the woman she had once called the Evil Queen. Regina's eyes were permanently hollow and sometimes, when she thought nobody could see, Snow still spotted the dried tracks of tears across her cheeks. The way Regina spoke off Emma told her that it wasn't just Henry she missed and she began to understand that the thing Regina loved most wasn't just her son. It had been Emma too. It changed everything. The Evil Queen could love after all.

"What about Hook?" David asked.

Regina's eyes darkened and the familiar traits of the Evil Queen's hatred crept into her face. "I'll personally see to it that scumbag will never set foot outside of this realm again."

"But we know he's crossed over once," Ariel reminded her. "We know he went to look for Emma not long after we got here."

"And we know he failed otherwise we wouldn't be here," David said. "How do we know that he is not still out there in the other world? Are you certain he's not back here or in Neverland?"

"Even if he is, I have no intentions of bringing him back to this Kingdom," Regina replied. "The Jolly Roger can sink for all I care."

Hook had abandoned them only a day after arriving in the Enchanted Forest. They learnt that he crossed realms once more, bringing back with him a formidable enemy in the shape of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West from a faraway land called Oz. A long time ago Hook had made her a promise that he would deliver her the woman who had destroyed her life, a woman by the name of Cora. Since Cora had been killed some time ago, Elphaba was now focused on destroying the next best thing; Regina and everything she had ever held most dear.

After helping Elphaba travel to the Enchanted Frost, Hook used the Jolly Roger to sail to the world where Emma lived, unaware of her background of her erased memories. They knew he was looking for her but they didn't know why but his betrayal had severed any loyalties they still had. To them Hook was nothing more than a liar they couldn't trust and Regina had vowed, albeit silently, that she would destroy him if she got the chance.

A rumbling sound in the distance made her look up and she felt her heart sink when she saw the dark clouds gather over the Kingdom's border. The sky was turning. Soon darkness would be upon them in a way they had never seen before. For the first time in a long while Regina actually longed for the wisdom and the magic of Rumpelstiltskin.

They'd searched everywhere for him but after he killed his father, or Peter Pan, they had just vanished. Regina didn't believe that he was dead. Rumpelstiltskin was too clever to allow himself to die, even if destiny required it of him. There was always some way he'd find a way out. He had changed his ways, for the sake of his son and for Belle, but no person could ever completely change who they were. Regina knew this better than anyone.

"When will we know if Emma made it to Storybrooke?" Neal asked, cutting through the silence.

Regina shivered as chills ripped down her spine. "I don't know," she admitted but couldn't look at him. She'd struggled to look at him ever since returning because she knew how much he had once meant to Emma. She knew he still loved her. The mere thought ripped through her heart and left her aching in a way she had never believed possible. "But I believe there will be a shift in magic somehow. I just don't know what it is that will happen."

Neal looked at Regina. "What can you tell us about Elphaba?"

"She is the love child of a peasant woman and a travelling stranger, the Wizard of Oz," Regina answered. "This heritage alone makes her extremely powerful. She has angered many people, and hurt many too. She has used her magic in ways that cannot be described. But she wasn't born this way. Over time she lost her mind, her sanity. She became truly wicked."

Snow cocked her head. "You always said that evil isn't born, it's made."

Regina's eyes met Snow's. "Yes," she answered. "And in Elphaba case that's most definitely true."

"What did Cora do to her?"

"My mother was obsessed with power," Regina said. The memories of her life with Cora came flooding back. It had been because of Cora that she first turned to magic. Her mother scarred her in a way that could never be undone. The wounds were too deep to ever truly heal. "She hurt many people, across many realms. She was known as the Queen of Hearts."

"You mean in Wonderland?" Belle asked and Regina nodded.

"Yes." She brushed a strand of raven hair out of her face. "But not just in Wonderland. My mother travelled, bringing destruction wherever she went. One day she crossed realms into a land called Oz and found her way to the Emerald City. This was where she met Elphaba. They met once when Elphaba was younger but this time she was an adult and her magic…"

"Cora wanted it," Snow finished Regina's sentence.

"My mother destroyed Elphaba. She took the one thing that she still cared for, the one thing that made her feel anything at all."

"Her heart?"

"Her child."

There was a deafening silence that lasted for several moments before Snow spoke again.

"Cora killed her child?"

Regina stared down at the floor, the burden of guilt over what her mother had done weighing heavily on her shoulders. "Yes."

Snow's eyes had filled with tears. "There is no greater pain."

"No," Regina said softly. Tears had welled up in her own eyes. "And because of that no greater hate."

Granny looked out of the window. A bright green flash of lightning cut through the ink black clouds still gathering in the sky. Beyond the Kingdom's borders, the world seemed to have ended. "We have two days," she said, her eyes fixing on the dark magic that was trying to invade. "Let's just hope the Savior gets there in time or we'll all be lost."

~()~

There were only 2 days to go till Christmas Eve and New York City seemed to have somehow transformed itself into a magical wonderland. Behind every shop window thousands, perhaps millions, of twinkling lights illuminated trees, plants, chairs and every other object imaginable. Christmas songs blasted from speakers and Christmas trees had been erected across the city. People walked around with smiles on their faces and shopping bags in their hands. There was something about this time of year that seemed to change everyone. For once happiness seemed to be emotion shared by everyone.

The snow had decided to hold off and the streets had been cleared of most of the white stuff. The sky was a faint shade of blue and a weak winter sun shone down on her as she slammed the trunk of her yellow Bug, securing the two weekend bags she'd packed earlier that morning. She then turned around to find Henry excitedly climbing into the passenger seat and she shook her head. Emma still didn't actually understand how she had let her son talk her into taking a last minute trip to Maine.

It was barely seven in the morning and still dark. The wind was bitter cold and she huddled a little deeper into her red leather jacket. It wasn't exactly the best thing to wear in the middle of winter but with a scarf, a white hat and a decent set of gloves it was perfectly doable. She'd chosen her most comfortable pair of jeans, the only ones that weren't so tight that they looked they'd been painted on, and a simple Jets sweatshirt.

Emma let her eyes wander around the dark parking lot at the back of her building for one last moment before heaving a sigh and hopping into the driver's seat. She buckles up and looked beside her.

"Ready, kid?"

Henry looked back at her, his eyes wide with anticipation, and he nodded. "Ready."

She then noticed the book that lay in his lap, his hands protectively draped across the cover. Emma didn't speak and just started the engine. The Bug seemed to splutter for a moment and she swore inside her head, willing the car to come to life. Then the engine roared and she grinned in relief.

"You really need a better car," Henry made a point of saying as she reversed it out of the parking lot and onto the street.

Emma feigned innocence. "What's wrong with this one?"

"It's about a hundred years old."

"It's not." Emma cut in front of a slow moving SUV. "It's nowhere near that old!"

Henry didn't answer and Emma shot him a sideways glance. He was looking out of the window at the various Christmas decorations. She had never been able to deny him anything and this trip was just another thing to add to that endless list. He'd inherited her abilities to get people to do what he wanted them to do just by looking at them. It was how she'd managed to survive her years in foster care and the years thereafter. When Henry looked at her in that way it was almost as if she was looking into a mirror.

Even first thing in the morning there was a lot of traffic on the road and Emma was glad when they finally left the business behind them. New York's skyline was growing smaller in her rear view mirror. Now they were finally on their way north, heading towards Maine.

"How long till we get to Maine?"

She grinned. "Probably another six and a half hours, kid."

"Will we stop for food?"

"There are some sweets in the glove compartment. They'll have to do for now."

Henry opened the glove compartment and found the four bags of sweets she'd bought the other day and forgot to take out. He inspected the bags and opened one.

"Hey, you've just had breakfast!" she said and took her eyes off the road for a split second to glare at him.

"But I'm hungry."

There was no denying that he was her son, she thought. Even that excuse was something she used all the time. Henry was no different.

She didn't answer and instead continued to focus on the road. It would be a long drive to Maine and she had to rely on the navigation system she borrowed of Rachel to get her there. After having put the address into the memory it had told her that it was seven hours and thirty-six minutes to their destination. It felt like a lifetime away.

Emma reached for the radio and switched it on before searching for a channel that wasn't exclusively playing Christmas songs. She finally found an obscure station that sounded like it was airing illegally and she settled back into her seat just as the DJ finished talking and announced the next song. Her fingers drummed against the wheel as the lyrics began to fill the car.

"…. _You only need the light when it's burning low, only miss the sun when it starts to snow, only know you love her when you let her go. Only know you've been high when you're feeling low, only hate the road when you're missing home, only know you love her when you let her go. And you let her go…"_


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whilst writing this chapter I had some musical inspiration and I wanted to share this with you. The song that I played while writing this is "My Immortal" by Lindsey Stirling (an instrumental cover of the famous Evanescence song). It brought this chapter alive for me

They had been driving for over six hours. Four toilet breaks, two at very dodgy looking gas stations in the middle of nowhere, and a lunch break at a small diner in a town that had no more than one hundred inhabitants, had made their journey tolerable but Emma was glad they were beginning to close in on their destination. She was still surprised her yellow Bug had managed to get them this far and she silently prayed it wouldn't pack up on them now. They'd crossed Maine's state line some time ago and she was now following the signs directing them to the coast.

They'd seen some amazing views along the way but Emma felt that Maine itself was probably the most beautiful of all. The interstates cutting through the landscapes of Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire had been rather boring at times but since arriving in Maine, something had changed.

They were driving along a quiet road through the forests for a little while, having left the interstate behind them. The skies were grey but at least it wasn't raining or snowing. She looked beside her to see Henry asleep, his resting against the window and his fairy tale book in his lap. The empty cup with the logo from the gas station they'd stopped at sixty miles back, lay at his feet. The wrapper of a chocolate bar had been shoved into his coat pocket.

Emma slowed down as they came around a bend. There was nothing here but trees but somehow her eyes began to drift. The slowing down of the car roused Henry from his sleep and his tired eyes opened. He looked at her.

"Are we there yet?" He asked, his voice thick with sleep.

"Almost," she answered, her eyes moving between the road and the snow covers tree tops that surrounded them. The car veered off the road and she came to standstill on the soft, crisp white snow. The engine slowly died and Emma looked at her son. The long drive was beginning to kill her back. "I need to stretch my legs, kid."

Henry looked around. "Here?!" He seemed shocked but got out of the car after making sure his Once Upon A Time book was safely hidden underneath the passenger seat. "But there's nothing here."

Emma opened the door too and stepped out of the car. Her legs protested, sore from the long drive, and she eagerly stretched her back. By tomorrow she'd be so stiff she wouldn't be able to move, she thought. She was desperate for a hot shower to relax the muscles in her back and fight the pain.

"It's nature," she said with a bright smile. "You don't see forests like these in New York City."

Henry eyed his mother up. "So, what do you wanna do?"

"Go for a walk."

She was surprised she even said those words. She wasn't exactly the adventurous time, although some would argue differently because of her job. She didn't hike or do outdoor activities other than the odd stroll through Central Park in the summer. But something about the she snow covered grounds and tall trees of Maine lured her in. Fresh air, not polluted by the endless amounts of traffic in the city, filled her lungs. Somehow it felt like a different world out here and Emma, for the first time in her life, wanted to experience and remember that feeling.

Henry fought with his gloves and readjusted his hat and scarf before following Emma through the snow. It reached just below his knees, nowhere near as high as back in New York. The cold crept into his clothes rather quickly and his jeans got wet but he didn't feel it because the brisk walk kept him warm. He was a few steps behind Emma, who cut herself a way through the trees and the snow. Every few steps she looked over her shoulder to make sure Henry was still following her.

She had just turned her head away when the snowball hit her shoulder. She spun around and found Henry beaming at her, a second projectile already in his hand. A cheeky glint lit up her green eyes.

"You're on!" she shouted before diving down to pick up a handful of snow. By the time she had shaped it into a ball, Henry had already hit her on the back.

The echo of their laughter carried through the trees before fading into the wind.

Emma ducked, avoiding a snowball Henry aimed at her, and swung two of her own his way. The first one missed but the second hit him in the chest, leaving a large snow stain on his coat. Blonde strands of wet hair clung to Emma's forehead and her heart was pounding in her chest.

"Hey, what's that?" Henry asked all of a sudden.

She thought he was trying to distract her so he could hit her when she least expected it but when he didn't immediately throw the snowball when she looked around, she knew he had seen something that had drawn his attention. They had walked about fifty feet away from the road, leaving deep footprints in the snow, and had wandered deeper into the forest then she had expected. The snowball fight had gotten them distracted.

"Henry?" Emma called when she saw a glimpse of her son's coat disappear behind a large oak tree. "HENRY?!"

She followed him and found him standing at the bottom of a small hill. He turned around when he heard his mother approach and Emma's eyes narrowed. On top of the hill stood a large stone well, covered in snow. The bleak winter sunlight reflected of the crisp white blanket, casting golden crystals into the air. Emma's heart unexpectedly skipped a beat.

"What is it?" Henry asked.

"Looks like a well," Emma said, doubt filling her voice. She didn't know why she was second guessing herself but something about her answer didn't seem right. "Back in the old days, people used to get their water from here."

"You mean people lived here?"

Emma's eyed wandered around the forest with the same amazement Henry's did. The snow glistened on the tree branches. It was hard to imagine anyone living here but these lands were hundreds of years old. People could very well have lived here at some point in history even though there was nothing left now that would suggest a dwelling had once been here.

Henry took a tentative step towards the well but Emma's hand shot out and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back. She never took her eyes off their discovery and felt he blood rush in her ears. An unnerving feeling settled in the pit of her stomach the longer she looked at the well and then it hit her. She had seen it before.

This was the well from her dreams; the one where she had seen the unknown woman's face in the water, staring back at her.

"Mom?" Henry looked up at her when he noticed the way she stared at the well. "You ok?"

"I don't know," Emma quietly answered. She took a couple of steps towards the well and let her fingers dance across the snow covered edge. The snow fell, revealing the old stone hidden beneath. Emma's eyes narrowed as she studied the markings, the stains left behind by Mother Nature and the hands of time. The structure breathed a tale of history she had yet to understand. "It feels like I've been here before."

Henry looked on as Emma approached the well. "Have you?"

She shook her head. "No." She carefully placed both her hands on the side of the well and a shiver ripped down her spine as she remembered seeing the woman's reflection in the water. "No, I haven't."

"Is it deep?" Henry wanted to know as he too climbed up to the well. He peered down over the edge into the darkness below. There didn't appear to be any water in it. Somewhat disappointed he looked at his mother. "I think it's empty."

"Yeah," Emma sighed, her heart still thumping in her chest. She too had looked down into the darkness, expecting to see the image from her dreams. Somehow she ached inside and she couldn't explain the incredible sadness she suddenly felt. Not seeing the woman's face suddenly made her feel lonely. Lonelier than she had ever been in her entire life. "It must be."

Henry continued to peer into the darkness, his eyes narrowing as he stared down into the depths below. "Hey, have you got something I can throw in there?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I wanna see how deep it is!"

Emma considered telling her son he couldn't throw some random object into the well but when she saw the glint in his eyes she caved in. Henry seemed to find joy I the smallest things and although she didn't always understand them, she did her best to make him happy. She rummaged through her bag but couldn't find anything remotely useless enough to chuck into the well. After a few moments of rummaging around, and finding a lipstick she thought she's lost, Emma's fingers brushed against something hard and cold and she pulled it out of her bag. In the palm of her hand lay the blue glass unicorn.

Henry grabbed it before she even had a chance to say anything and by the time the word "stop" had rolled off her tongue, the unicorn had disappeared into the darkness, with her son eagerly leaning over the edge in an attempt to hear it hit the bottom. A soft splash could be heard when the glass unicorn reached the bottom, landing in the water.

Henry turned to look at her, excitement etched across his face. "That well really is deep!"

Emma averted her eyes, unable to cope with the unexpected desire to see dark eyes reflect in water. She swallowed hard and wiped a strand of damp hair out of her face. "Come on, kid," she said and took Henry by his arm but he didn't move. She let go but a hint of impatience laced her voice. "Only another hour till we reach the hotel."

Henry stepped away from the well and looked down. Something lay hidden under eat the snow and he used his feet to clear it away. Emma had walked ahead and turned around when she noticed her son wasn't following her. She furrowed her brow when she saw him looking down at something at his feet and she slowly walked back towards him.

"Henry? Are you okay?" she asked and at that moment he bent down to pick something up.

From where she stood it looked like a large piece of wood, the size of car licence plate. It had been painted in a shade of pale blue. Emma couldn't see what it was but Henry stared down at the object in his hands and slowly looked up until he met his mother's eyes. What she saw was hurt.

"You said it wasn't real."

Emma's eyes narrowed and she quickly walked back to her son. "That what wasn't real? Henry, what are you talking about?"

He slowly turned around the piece of wood he had picked up and Emma's heart shattered. In white curved letters STORYBROOKE was written on the piece of wood. The white was a sharp contrast against the pale blue background. The wood looked weathered, like it had been outside for some time. She couldn't tell what it had once been part of but the edges were rough and it was clear it had been broken of something. Her breath died in the back of her throat and there were tears in her eyes she couldn't explain.

"Henry..."

"You said it wasn't real!"

"I looked it up!" Emma exclaimed, feeling despair wash over her. "On Google! It wasn't there! Google said it didn't exist!"

Henry stared at her with blazing eyes. It reminded her of the year he had discovered Santa Claus wasn't real. For several days she hadn't dared to hope she would ever see him smile again. That same anger and hurt flickered in his eyes again. The look of a child trying to come to terms with a parent, the one person in the whole world they trusted unconditionally, having lied to them. "If it's not real then how did this get here?"

"I don't know!" She felt desperate. Something around them was changing and she didn't know what it was. There was a shift, almost as if in the atmosphere itself. She'd reached out a hand, her eyes snapping from Henry to the well and back. "But I promise I'll help you find out! Now please, Henry, let's get back to the car!" The echo of panic in her voice was undeniable and Emma's eyes swam with tears. Something inside of her had broken. "Henry, please!"

He didn't answer her but instead walked past her into the direction of her car. The fact he didn't look at her told her he was hurt. She watched as his shoulders dropped. She followed him, walking back along the tracks left behind in the snow. Her head was spinning. She had looked Storybrooke up on Google. It told her it didn't exist. Not a single map showed a town by that name. So how could Henry have found a sign of the village he had dreamt about in the middle of nowhere in Maine, covered in snow?

Henry climbed into the car after brushing the snow of his clothes. He still clutched the Storybrooke sign and didn't look back at his mother. His anger and hurt was too raw. Emma remained standing between the trees for a little while longer, a strong feeling pulling at her to look over her shoulder. When she did her eyes almost immediately focused on the spot in the distance where the well stood on its hill. As she looked away she shuddered because it sounded like the wind called out her name.

_"Emma!"_

For a moment she saw the woman's face again, rising from the depths of the well and reflecting in the water. Those dark eyes that seemed so sad, seeing right through her, deep into her heart and soul. Those eyes haunted her every day, following her wherever she went. She saw them every night in her dreams.

Emma heaved a deep sigh before leaving the forest and walking back to her Bug. She joined Henry in the car and turned the heat up to full blast to dry their clothes. Only now did she realise how cold she was. She put the car into gear, cast a quick glance at Henry who was staring down at the Storybrooke sign in his lap and refused to make eye contact, and got back onto the road that would lead them to their destination. All she wanted was to get as far away from here as possible.

Deep in the forest, a fine plume of purple smoke began to rise from the depths of the well and magic slowly began to find its way back to what had once been Storybrooke.

~()~

Snow's voice calling her lured Regina out of her memories of a life she had lived a long time ago. A life not exactly full of happiness but brighter than the one she was forced to live right now. This was only a shadow, a fragment of what she could truly feel. The emotions were pushed into the background by the despair in Snow White's voice and she found the younger woman standing in the doorway, eyes wide. She was panting.

"Regina!" She sounded out of breath. "Something's happening!"

Regina immediately followed her and when they reached the room where they had discussed their fate only hours earlier, she immediately sensed something had changed. The sound of her high heels bounced off the walls as she crossed the room to the window, her long black dress billowing behind her. Her raven hair was bound into a lose bun in the back of her neck, held together by a ruby red ribbon. When she reached the window she stared outside.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, having appeared in the room after making her way inside from patrolling the Kingdom's borders. "Regina, what's happening?"

The tears burnt behind her eyes and Regina felt her heart ache deep inside her chest. Her fingers clenched, her nails digging deep into the stone. The lump in her throat didn't shift and for the first time in many years the Queen felt something she hadn't felt in a long time; hope.

"Emma," she whispered. "It's Emma."

Snow turned to David, delight flickering behind her eyes. "You mean she did it?!"

Excitement ripped through the room, filling the hearts of those who had been waiting for this moment with joy. People whispered about a possible return to Storybrooke.

"Yes," Regina said as she watched the plume of smoke developing along the horizon. "She woke the magic."

"What do we do now?" Granny wanted to know. She'd wrapped a protective arm around Ruby.

"Gather the villagers," Regina said and her dark eyes drifted to David and Snow. She knew that the people of the Kingdom would listen to them. "They will need to decide now whether to stay here and live under Elphaba and her Curse or return to Storybrooke knowing they can never come back here. Who they were in this world will no longer be who they are in the new one. There is no going back after today."

Snow glanced at David before looking back at Regina. "We can do that," she said. "What do we do once we have gathered everyone?"

"Bring everyone to Lake Nostos. The portal will open there. By then the magic will have become strong enough to transport all of us." Regina straightened her spine. "I'll use all the magic I can to see to it that Storybrooke will be just like it was when we get there." The corners of her lips curled up into a smile. "Only difference is that this time we will all remember."

"What about Emma and Henry?" Belle wanted to know. "They have been to Storybrooke, they used the magic. Will they remember us too?"

Regina shook her head. "No." Her heart sank. "Only True Love's kiss can undo the spell I placed on Emma that erased her memories. As far as Emma's concerned, she doesn't know she ever met us." Her eyes found Snow's. "She doesn't know who her parents are."

Snow looked back at Regina. "Or who truly loves her."

Regina turned her away and looked back at the purple smoke steadily closing in. "Go!" she said, her voice constricted by tears. "Gather the villagers. We only have a few hours." Her eyes darkened a little as a stray tear found its way down her cheek. "We're going home."


	7. Chapter 7

Regina looked at the group of people that had gathered at Lake Nostos. She saw anxiety etched across their faces but she also heard the whispers of hope. The group was larger than she had expected as it seemed the threat of Elphaba looming at the Kingdom's borders was frightening more of the Kingdom's population than she thought. The villagers had travelled from far and wide, most of them by horse drawn carriage, and now they anxiously waited at the shores of the Lake for what would come next.

David and Snow broke free from the crowd, closely followed by Ruby. They had travelled across the Kingdom in the last few hours, telling people it was time to go. The news had spread fast and now the final hour was almost upon them.

"Everyone's here," Snow said when she reached Regina. Her heart pounded in her chest. The thought of returning to the other realm, to Storybrooke, was both frightening and exciting.

Walking away from the Enchanted Forest, this time by choice, wasn't something she did lightly. This had been her home for a very long time but Storybrooke had become her home too and it was in Storybrooke that she found Emma. Emma wasn't going to find them here. If they wanted a chance at being a family, they would have to do it in a world where she would become Mary Margaret instead of Snow White. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

Regina nodded and pointed at the surface of the Lake. The sunlight, albeit weak, reflected in her dark hair. "The Portal is opening," she said, her voice strangely hollow. Not far from the shores a small circle was forming in the water, glowing a pale shade of green just below the surface. "It's small but I can feel the magic growing stronger."

A loud rumbling noise in the distance made their heads whip around. Far away, against the horizon, dark clouds gathered. Elphaba's Curse was approaching faster than Regina had expected but there was still time to escape. It didn't bear thinking about what the Curse would do the land they were leaving behind and those few who chose to stay. They were the ones too angry at Regina, the ones who had not forgiven her for the first Curse, to accept her help now and they were the ones who were too sick or too old and wouldn't cope with the strain of travelling through the portal. Death was almost upon them and they were brave enough to face it in the shadow of Elphaba. And then there were those who believed that nothing could be worse than what Regina had done and simply refused to leave and Regina hoped, deep down, that they were right.

"Are you ready?" Snow asked and she put her hand on Regina's arm.

The Queen looked down at the unexpected touch. A lot had changed in the last year and her relationship with Snow was one of those things. Somehow their mutual loss had brought them closer together and the grief and the pain of losing Emma had given them the forgiveness they both sought. They had both loved and lost.

"Yes." Regina's voice was somewhat croaky, as if constricted by tears. Her eyes were fixed on the ever growing ripples in the water. The colour green got brighter. This was her way out of this world, away from the last remnants of the Evil Queen. In Storybrooke she could just be Regina, just like Emma had always said. She wouldn't be as haunted.

"She'll come back," Snow said and gently squeezed Regina's hand. Her eyes met those of the woman who had been her nemesis for so many years. They had both missed out on so much. "When somebody leaves you, it's like a death in your heart. But when they come back, it's the most beautiful feeling. It can make any tears go dry."

Regina didn't answer, keeping her dark eyes peeled on the water in front of her. The sun broke through the cloud and cast golden rays onto the surface, making it glisten with stars made out of gold. She dint know if Snow was right. She had left people. People had left her. None of them had ever come back.

Eventually she tore her eyes away from the Lake and looked around the large group of people gathered on the shores. The portal had begun to open, causing the water to spin rapidly. The sides were still glowing green, with swirls of purple, pink and blue. She stepped away from Snow and let her eyes wander across the faces of those who had chosen to come. "It is time."

"Ok, Regina," David said, his hand briefly touching his sword. "Tell us what we need to do."

"I'm going to cast a replica of the Curse that sent us to Storybrooke the first time," Regina said. "The spell will make Storybrooke appear the same way it did before but we will keep our memories. The portal will only take us there and not to any other realm. When we arrive, it will be like we never left. We may find ourselves in different places, perhaps even in our old homes. I don't know." She briefly met his eyes. "All I know is that it will take us home."

"And back to Emma."

"Yes." The echo of hope in her voice was heart breaking. "And back to Emma."

She raised her hands and from the tips of her fingers dark purple shots of lightning erupted. They found their way up into the sky before landing in the ever fasting spinning portal. In the distance the loud rumbling noise grew stronger and Regina glanced over her shoulder. Dark clouds began to gather, slowly masking the sun.

"She knows we're leaving," she said when she noticed Snow's worried look. The magic was still filling the portal, transforming it into a single passage way to Storybrooke and rebuilding the town that had been destroyed. "We've got to hurry! Bring everyone as close as you can. Once this is done we've got to get out of here."

Snow, David, Ruby and Granny began lining the people up into four groups. They waited patiently as Regina completed her magic and when the Queen finally lowered her hands, purple clouds danced through the portal. She slowly turned around and her eyes found Snow's. She merely nodded and stepped aside, freeing the way for everyone to jump through the portal.

People moved fast and in an orderly fashion, holding hands where they could. Regina watched their faces as the fear of the threat of Elphaba slowly disappeared and was replaced by the hope of going home. They had come from all over the Kingdom and some had travelled from beyond its borders. They were all ready to give up the fairy tale life they led for a life away from here.

It took twenty minutes for everyone to move through the portal and eventually, after the dwarfs had gone through, only Snow, David, Ruby and Granny remained. Snow slowly turned around to see Regina looked around, her gaze lingering on the tall trees. The sound of the birds singing had been silenced by the threat of the oncoming curse. For the first time Snow really saw how lost Regina was. Her broken heart was there for the whole world to see. The Queen had lost her mask.

"Are you coming?" she asked, drawing the Queen's attention.

Regina's eyes snapped in Snow's direction. "Yes," she said as a sad smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "But I need to be the last one to leave I can close the portal to stop her from coming through."

"Regina, this isn't your fault," Snow said as behind her Ruby linked arms with Granny and walked towards the portal. "I know you're worried about what will happen to this land but Elphaba coming here wasn't something you caused. It was something Cora did. You can't blame yourself for what is about to happen here."

Regina swallowed hard but didn't answer. Instead she silently followed Snow and David to the shore of Lake Nostos. Ruby and Granny looked over their shoulder. Ruby was beaming and she waved at them before stepping into the portal. They vanished into the water. Snow reached for David's hand and their fingers linked together. They took the last three steps that separated them from their journey home. The portal made a soft whizzing noise.

"We'll see you back in Storybrooke, Regina," David said as he tightened his grip on Snow's hand. When they arrived back she would be Mary Margaret once again. They looked at Regina still standing behind them, smiled and then disappeared into the portal. Once they were gone Regina was alone.

She felt the wind pull at her hair. It cherished her face and drew the tears from her eyes. She had walked away from this land once, filled with hatred and pain. Now she walked away again but this time she had hope. Many years ago she'd cursed every person living within these lands and trapped them within her own madness and her own despair. They became the pawns and she was the one in charge of their lives. But the Curse was broken and they were different people now. When it first broke she had nothing left but slowly things somehow fell into place. All because of Emma.

Regina glanced up to the sky. Black clouds were packing together above her head. She smirked. "You can have this land, Elphaba. You can have it because there is nothing left. I took what makes me happy and you can't have it. You won't take that happiness from me. Destroying a land isn't going to do that." Her hand covered her heart, fingers digging into the fabric of her dress. "Because my happiness lives in here."

With those words dying out in the wind, Regina stepped into the portal. It immediately pulled her down and she let her eyes fall shut as the sensation washed over her. She didn't even try to hold on. Her arms and legs moved beyond her control. She spun faster and faster and the bright colours slowly faded into black.

And then it stopped.

Regina's eyes opened and she looked around. The wind was in her hair again, caressing her cheeks. It was colder too, cutting through her clothes and chilling her bones. It was dark and a full moon shone down on her through the snow covered trees. She stood in the forest, snow three inches thick surrounding her, and she spun around to face the well from which she had appeared. Purple smoke still billowed up into the air. The magic had not yet died and the portal was still open.

She took two steps towards the well, held her hands over the purple smoke and clenched her fists, trapping the smoke between her fingers. It slowly faded and the water that sat right below the edge slowly dropped down into the darkness where it eventually disappeared. Darkness was all that remained. The portal had been closed.

She allowed herself a moment to feel the change. Her hair had been cropped short again, reaching just above her shoulders. The heavy dress she'd been wearing had been replaced for a pair of simple but elegant black slacks, simple boots and burgundy red woollen sweater. A simple black button up coat sat snug around her body in an attempt to shield her from the winter cold.

Regina slowly walked away from the well, following the footsteps already left behind in the snow and headed into the direction of Storybrooke. The wind was bitter and robbed her of her breath and she pushed her hands deeply inside her pockets to keep her fingers warm. When she eventually left the forest her breath died in the back of her throat. There, just at the bottom of the hill, lay Storybrooke, lit up by the streetlamps and covered in a pure white dusting of snow.

She was home.

~()~

Emma stared out of her hotel room window. Darkness had fallen an hour ago. The website through which she'd booked the hotel hadn't lied. It truly did have a stunning view over the ocean and she'd been watching the waves roll in for the past half an hour, illuminated by the large silver full moon. There was something comforting and soothing about watching the sea. It helped her calm down and ease the strange kind of anxiety that had settled in her stomach.

Henry's room was next to hers, separated only by a door. He'd barely spoken more than ten words to her since getting back into the car. All he'd done was staring at the sign with STORYBROOKE written on it in his lap. She tried to talking to him but was met with only silence. The hurt in his eyes, the betrayal etched across his face, was something Emma knew she would never be able to forget.

When they arrived at the hotel Henry went straight to his room. She knocked the door a couple of times asking him if he would please come out but the door remained locked. It was then that she had climbed into the window sill of her room, her knees pulled up to her chest and her back against the wall. Snow covered large parts of the world outside and it looked like a magical winter wonderland but to Emma it felt as if Christmas was already gone. The thought of spending Christmas here together with Henry suddenly just felt like a horrible idea and she wished they'd stayed at home in New York City.

She rested her head against the cool glass and her eyes fluttered shut. She hurt inside.

The woman's face flooded back into her mind. Dark eyes stared back up to her from underneath the water, the soft voice calling her name in the wind. She was there, wherever she looked and wherever she went. It felt as if she knew her, as if she had somehow seen her before, but Emma didn't know how or why. She heard the echo of her own voice, much like in her dream, calling out again. _Regina._

Her head snapped up when the door separating her room from Henry's opened and her son walked in. He carried his book under his arm and the Storybrooke sign in his hand. His eyes met hers from across the room and he put the two items on the bed before climbing on it. Emma watched him for just a few moments before gently slipping out of the window sill, padding across the room, and joining him on the bed.

"You ok, kid?" she asked, giving him a sideways glance.

He nodded. "Yeah."

Emma picked up the piece of wood Henry had found and turned it over in her hands. "How could this have ended up by the well?" she wondered.

"Because Storybrooke exists," Henry said, rather matter of fact. "Or at least it did, once."

Emma furrowed her brow. "What do you mean, it did once?"

Henry opened the book and turned to the very last page. There was a drawing on the last page. A group of people, their faces impossible to see, seemed to disappear into a cloud of purple smoke as they watched something else fade in the distance. The picture didn't show what that something was. The road just seemed to end.

Just as she was about to look away and brush her son's comment off as his imagination, Emma noticed the sign behind the group of people. It was the type of sign you'd pass on your way into or out of a town. It was green with white letters and almost hidden from view. But it was there and the name written on it was a name she had heard more than once recently; Storybrooke.

"Ok." She leant back against the pillows on the bed, the Storybrooke sign in her lap. She looked at Henry. He looked back at her with great expectation. "So let's say you're right and this town actually existed. Where is it now and how did it disappear? Why can't I find it anywhere when I try to look for it?"

"Because the Curse made it disappear."

"The Curse?"

Henry nodded and his eyes lit up. "Yes, Peter Pan's Curse. He was trying to imprison everyone in Storybrooke and turn them into his slaves. But the Evil Queen turned the Curse around and saved everyone but it meant it destroyed Storybrooke, sending them all back to the Enchanted Forest."

Emma's gaze dropped down to the book her son was holding. "The book told you that?"

"Twenty-eight years ago the Evil Queen cast a terrible Curse that sent everyone from the Enchanted Forest to our world," Henry continued. "They lived in a town called Storybrooke and had no memory of who they were. When the Curse was broken, they fought against different enemies but eventually Peter Pan almost became too strong. The Queen saved everyone."

Emma sat up and reached for the book. The story Henry was telling her seemed somewhat strange. "What kind of fairy tales are in even in this thing?" she asked as she flipped through the pages and looked at the various drawings. They were very detailed but looked nothing like the few fairy tales she'd heard when she was growing up.

"They aren't stories!" Henry objected, seemingly annoyed that Emma wasn't getting his point. "Everything in this book actually happened."

Emma heaved a sigh. "So you're saying that all these fairy tale characters came from another world, lived in ours for a long time, then went back and nobody knew about it?"

Henry nodded. "Yes."

"So where are they now?"

"I don't know but I think they're waiting for the Savior."

"The Savior?" she asked and arched an eyebrow. "Who's the Savior?"

"The person who broke the Curse," Henry explained. "The Savior is mentioned by name but I can't find a picture anywhere." He took the book from Emma and turned the pages as if to look for something. He seemed disappointed when he didn't find what he was looking for. "The Savior broke the Curse with True Love's Kiss. That's the way to break the spell."

"Ok," Emma said and she got off the bed. She brushed her hands along her jeans. "I think it's time you and I go and get something to eat."

Henry didn't say anything but willingly got off the bed too. He left the book however as well as the Storybrooke sign and started for the door. Emma followed him, double checked she had the keys to get back in and then closed the door behind them. They stared down the hallway and missed how behind the closed door of their room, a little piece of magic happened.

Another page was added to the book left behind on the bed. A soft gust of wind made the page turn and the picture showed a drawing of a town emerging from a cloud of purple smoke. Storybrooke had appeared again.


	8. Chapter 8

They returned late from dinner and Henry was tired. Emma practically had to carry him to bed, much like she had done when he was younger. He changed into his pyjamas and climbed into the soft, comfortable hotel bed and by the time she kissed him goodnight he was already asleep.

Emma padded back to her own room and when she walked in saw the book lying on her bed, next to the Storybrooke sign. She stared at it for a few seconds before picking both items up and carrying them back to Henry's room. She left them at the end of his bed, her fingers grazing across the words Once Upon A Time. The silver moonlight fell through a gap in the curtains, lighting up the word Storybrooke. A cold shiver travelled down her spine as she turned around and left Henry's room.

Back in her own room Emma stripped off, walked into the bathroom and took a much needed hot shower. Her body ached after the long drive and the muscles in her back slowly relaxed as the warm water cascaded down her skin. She washed her long blonde hair with the shampoo provided by the hotel and inhaled the scent of cherry blossom. It was sweeter than what she would normally prefer but she liked it.

Emma switched the shower off and wrapped one of the soft white towels around herself. She used a second one to dry her hair and turned to the sink. The mirror had steamed up and she reached to wipe it. In a flash she didn't just see her own face, comforted by the steam, but she also saw another. Dark eyes stared back at her for just a moment. Those same dark eyes she had seen in her dreams. Emma's head snapped around but she was alone. There was nobody here.

Her heart pounded in her throat and Emma placed both her hands on the side of the sink. "Get a grip, Mills," she whispered to herself. "You really need to chill out."

Slowly she let her eyes drift back up and met her own gaze in the mirror. The other woman's face was gone. It was just herself she could see.

Emma heaved a sigh, picked up the tooth brush and finished off her evening routine. She brushed her teeth and her hair, applied some moisturiser to her face and then she walked back into her room. She found a pair of grey sweatpants and a t-shirt in her weekend bag and slipped them on. She then pulled back the clean crisp sheets on the bed and climbed in. The mattress was soft and as she lay down she released her breath in relief.

She lay on her back with her hands folded behind her head, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. It was quiet. Almost too quiet. Back in New York she would hear the soft humming of the refrigerator in the kitchen or the dripping of the tap. Here there was nothing, not even the sound of the wind.

Emma tossed and turned for a while, glancing at the small alarm clock on the bedside table every few minutes. The more frequently she saw the numbers change, the more frustrated she became. She wanted to sleep. Her brain was exhausted and her body worn out. She kicked her sheets away then pulled them back because she was cold. She rolled onto her side, her stomach and her other side but still couldn't get comfortable. Every time her eyes closed she saw the woman's face in the mirror.

She couldn't shake the image. She was always there, wherever she went. Emma didn't know her name, she didn't know why she kept seeing her everywhere and frankly, it was beginning to creep her out. There were moments, like tonight, where she thought she was losing her mind. No sane person so faces in mirrors that weren't there. She vowed that when she got back to New York she would go and see a doctor because this madness had gone on long enough.

She didn't know how long it took but she stopped looking at the alarm clock and eventually she drifted off into a restless and dreamless sleep.

The next morning she woke to weak sunlight falling into her room through the small gap in the curtains. She lay on her back, her blonde hair sprawled out over the pillows. When she moved to see what time it was, her muscles immediately protested and she groaned in pain. 7.45 am.

Slowly Emma sat up and let her eyes wander around the room. She didn't feel like she had slept at all. The room looked the same as it did last night. Her clothes thrown carelessly onto a chair, her bag left unzipped at the bottom of the bed and the curtains haphazardly drawn. But she couldn't shake the feeling that something had changed and Emma sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and letting her feet touch the floor.

As she got up the door separating her room from Henry's opened and he came in. He clutched his fairy tale book under his arm and she only needed one glance at his face to tell her something had happened.

"Henry, what's going on?" she asked as he crossed the room and put the book down I her bed.

His eyes met hers. "Something happened."

"What are you talking about?" Emma asked and furrowed her brow.

Henry climbed onto the bed and opened the book. He immediately went to the last page and pointed his index finger at the drawn picture. "This," he said as he looked back up at her, "wasn't there last night."

Emma rolled her eyes in such a way that her son didn't notice and perched herself at the end of the bed. She was tired and her head was suddenly pounding. His obsession with this book was starting to wear her down. "Henry, pages don't just magically appear in a book. It was probably there all along, maybe the page was just stuck to the previous one."

"No." He sounded dismissive. "I have read this book at least ten times. This page was never there."

Emma reached over and pulled the book towards her. The picture was drawn in the same style as the others she had seen. From a purple cloud a town seemed to appear, as if it was slowly rising from the ground. Outlines of people could be seen in the streets but their faces were hidden. One thing was clear though: every shop front had Storybrooke written on it.

Her eyes fixed on Henry. "So you're saying this page was magically added to your book over night?"

"Yes!" He said. "Storybrooke appeared again."

"Storybrooke appeared again?"

"They came back," Henry explained. There was excitement in his voice. "They must have found a way to come back after Pan's Curse."

Emma ran her fingers through her hair and massaged her temples. "How can a town just appear out of thin air?"

"It's magic!" Henry's eyes lit up as the word magic rolled off his tongue. "Storybrooke is magic, mom!" He looked at her with the same big eyes he always did on Christmas Day. The excitement and the hope were etched across his face. "We need to go and see!"

"What?!" Emma shook her head. The thought of getting back into the car after yesterday's journey did nothing to ease her headache. "No, Henry. It's an hour away and the weather isn't great. It snowed again over night, I don't even know if I can get the car on the road. If it snows again we may not be able to get back."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Henry..."

He slipped off the bed and grabbed the book. His shoulders had dropped but she recognised the anger in his eyes. "You're my mom!" he spat and his eyes welled up with tears. "You're supposed to believe me!"

He disappeared back into his own room and slammed the door so hard Emma was convinced the girl at reception downstairs could have heard him. The silence of her room was suddenly deafening and she cradled her head in her hands. She couldn't explain the tears behind her eyes but loneliness engulfed her, swallowed her up. She didn't know what to do anymore. She didn't like it when Henry was angry at her but he needed boundaries just like any other kid and she did her best to set them but at the same time she couldn't cope with him resenting her.

Reluctantly she got out of bed, walked across the room and softly knocked the dividing door. Her son didn't answer.

"Henry?" she called. She did her best to make it sound like she wasn't being strangled by tears. "Henry, get dressed. You're going to have to help me dig out the car."

Her lisp curled up into a smile when she heard a stumbling sound coming from behind the door and turned away. She dug a pair of jeans out of her weekend bag and a simple grey hooded top with NYPD written across it in blue. Emma stripped off, tossed the clothes she'd worn overnight onto the bed and got dressed. She smiled as she pulled it over her head, remembering how this piece of clothing came to be in her possession.

It had been a rainy day in March and it was one of the rare occasions where she did the actual physical chasing of a criminal who had skipped bail. She'd been running down an industrial estate in Queens when the suspect took a sharp right turn and disappeared into an alley. She gave chase only to be faced by a metal fence. The suspect was halfway up and she climbed up too. In the distance she'd heard the police sirens and when she jumped off the fence at the other side, she landed in a large pool of murky water. She was drenched and stunk like rotting meat but she caught up with the suspect again and nailed him to a wall just as a cop car pulled up. It turned out that the pool of water wasn't just rain water but that a butcher working in the adjacent building had dropped several litres of waste water in the alley. It explained the smell.

Emma looked up when she heard Henry come in. She adjusted her sweater, bound her hair in a ponytail and made sure she had her cell phone and that it was charged. She then turned to face her son. He clutched his book and the Storybrooke sign.

"Wanna go grab some breakfast?" she asked and he nodded.

They ate breakfast in the small dining room of the hotel. Most of the tables were empty. Only an elderly couple sat at a table near the window. The tables were laid out with simple white plates, a coffee mug and glasses for orange juice. A waitress took their order and disappeared into the kitchen to fetch the waffles and pancakes and to get orange juice and coffee. Once she had left Emma's eyes drifted to the window. The dining area overlooked the sea and waves came crashing onto the beach. The clouds were grey and full of snow.

Once they has finished eating, they wrapped up warm in their coats, hats and scarfs and braved the bitter cold wind outside. Emma fumbled with her car keys and climbed behind the wheel. She started the engine immediately and switched on the car's heating. The warm air blowing into her face slowly erased the dark red blushes on her cheeks left behind by the cold. She looked beside her at Henry and watched him buckle up before opening the fairy tale book in his lap. A sigh escaped her.

"I must be out of my mad," she muttered to herself, quietly enough so her son didn't hear her.

They were lucky that no more snow had fallen over might and the roads were relatively clear, albeit it slippery in places. Patches of ice had formed on the road surface, causing the Bug's wheels to spin in protest and for Emma to grab a firm hold of the wheel. About ten inches of snow covered the sidewalks and more had been blown up against the sides of buildings. There was hardly anyone about. People seemed to prefer the comfortable warmth of their home and Emma didn't blame them. As much as she was used to winter in New York, she didn't like the idea of being out in the snow in the middle of nowhere in Maine.

They'd been driving for about twenty minutes when Henry looked up at his mother. "Thank you," he said softly and Emma took her eyes off the road long enough to meet his gaze.

"What for?" she asked.

"Believing me."

She wasn't sure if she did believe him. Everything he told her about the book, the people inside of it and this town called Storybrooke seemed too farfetched. It couldn't possibly be true. Towns didn't just magically appear out of thin air and characters from a book didn't just live in the normal world. But then at the same time she couldn't deny strange things had been happening. The weird guy at their apartment, the strange dreams with the dark haired woman and the red haired woman finding her at the office and gave her the glass unicorn and eventually the well in the forest. It seemed as if in recent weeks her life had become somewhat of a fairy tale in its own right, but it was one she had never heard before and one she didn't understand.

"It is a little strange," Emma answered, not quite affirming Henry's believe that she saw things the way he did. She relaxed a little behind the wheel as the road ahead of them seemed to be clear from snow. The tall trees of Maine's forests covered the road on either side. Some of the branches were about ready to break under the heavy weight of the snow. "Something's definitely going on."

It seemed that her admitting she at least thought that strange things were happening was enough for Henry because he smiled at her. She smiled in return.

For the remainder of their journey they listened to a radio station that played classic rock tunes and Emma hummed along to the Eagles' hit Hotel California as Henry flicked through the pages of his book.

Henry's head whipped up when they approached a bend and he sat up in his seat.

"That's it!" he said, pointing out the area where they had pulled over the day before. "That's where we stopped!"

Emma slowed the car and noticed the distinct footprints in the snow. This was indeed the spot where they had pulled over the day before. Her heart suddenly pounded in the back of her throat and she hit the gas pedal. There was another bend a few yards ahead and when they came around the corner, Emma slammed on the brakes. There, in the middle of the snow, stood a white sign with black letters. The message was clear and unmistakable. In bold letters it spelt "Welcome to Storybrooke."

The car came to a sudden stop in front of the sign and Emma and Henry were slammed back into their seats.

"Well I'll be damned." Emma stared at the sign before her eyes drifted to Henry. He was beaming and his smile didn't falter when he saw the confusion in his mother's eyes. "What the hell…"

"I told you!" he said, excitement lacing his words. He could barely restrain himself from jumping out of the car. "I told you it was real! Storybrooke exists!"

"So it seems."

A strange feeling slowly grabbed hold of her heart, strangling her from the inside out. Emma tore her eyes away from the sign and started the car again. Just as she did so, white flakes began to fall from the sky. It was snowing again and it was coming down thick and fast.

They followed the road and it eventually turned off into Main Street. Buildings aligned either side of the street. Emma saw different kinds of retail shops. Streets leading of Main Street appeared to be residential, home to small apartment blocks and some large colonial style houses. People walked across the street, snowflakes tangled in their hair. With every minute, more and more snow fell.

"This is impossible," Emma whispered as she drove along Main Street. Her eyes flashed from side to side in disbelief. "We drove through here yesterday. This town wasn't here!"

"Magic," Henry concluded. "Magic brought Storybrooke back."

Emma pulled up along the curb and switched the engine off. They were parked across the street from a diner and she pulled the key out of the ignition, opened the door and got out. Fresh air filled her longs and snowflakes landed on her cheeks, melting against her warm skin. She looked around, taking in the sight of the town that hadn't been there the day before. She couldn't believe what it was she saw.

"Mom?" Henry asked as he got out of the car too. "You ok?"

"Yeah," Emma said as her eyes fixed on the diner. The unexplainable feeling that she had somehow been her before crept up on her. She couldn't take her eyes of the place. "I'm fine."

Without waiting for her son she crossed the road and walked up to the door of the diner. Henry caught up just as her hand hovered over the door handle. The neon sign on the door flickered bright red, saying OPEN, and Emma pushed against the door. It opened and the first thing she noticed was the smell of fresh coffee and burgers. The next thing she saw was several sets of eyes fixed on her in amazement and surprise.

"Why is everybody staring at us?" Henry whispered from behind her and Emma glanced at him.

"Small town folk," she said quietly as she stepped inside the warmth of the diner. Her heart pounded in her chest so loudly that she thought everyone could hear it. "Probably not used to outsiders."

"Hi!"

Emma's eyes snapped up and saw a girl with long brown hair and the shortest skirt she had ever seen standing in front of her. Her lips were painted bright red and inquisitive green eyes searched Emma's face. Something about the way she looked at her made Emma uncomfortable but she just straightened her spine.

"Hey," she said, trying to sound neutral.

"I'm Ruby, I'll be your waitress today," the girl said with a grin. "What can I get ya?"

"Coffee please," Emma said. "And a hot chocolate for the kid."

As they walked through the diner and sat down in one of the red leather booths, she noticed people no longer stared at them. Conversations that had been loud when they walked in had now become hushed and someone quickly stuffed a newspaper under the table. Emma frowned as it seemed strange that people responded this way to outsiders and instead she looked at Henry.

"Well?" she asked, trying not to sound too defensive. "Is this what you imagined?"

"No." His eyes lit up. "It's better."

Ruby disappeared into the back of the diner and found Granny putting two heavy pots onto a shelf. She turned around when Ruby walked in and almost dropped one of the pots when she saw the girl's beaming smile.

"What?" she grunted.

"She's here!"

Granny frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Emma!" Ruby hissed and pointed back towards the diner. "She's here!"

"So soon?" Granny whispered as she carefully tiptoed to the door separating the storage area from the diner and peered around it. Her breath choked in the back of her throat when she saw the blonde woman sitting at the table and she turned back to look at Ruby.

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to pretend I didn't know her?" Ruby asked. "I just… I just wants to hug her!"

"No hugging!" Granny reminded her and Ruby nodded. "Serve her whatever she asks for. I'll call Regina."

Ruby nodded and disappeared back into the diner. She poured Emma a steaming mug of coffee and made a hot chocolate for Henry, adding cream and a touch of cinnamon. She then carried the two drinks to the table and put them down. Emma barely glanced up at her but Henry noticed the cinnamon in his drink and looked up.

"How did you know that?" he asked, pointing at the extra touch.

"Oh, it's my favourite!" Ruby said, improvising quickly as to why she was aware of the quirky habit. She grinned, exposing a perfect set of pearly white teeth. "Granny says I need to stop trying to poison all the customers but it's not so bad." Her eyes came to a rest on Emma. "I don't think I've seen you here before."

"We're just passing through," Emma replied as she picked up the coffee mug and let it warm her hands. "We'll be on our way soon."

The door to the diner opened again and a small bell chimed. The sound was enough to make Emma look up and the mug slipped through her fingers, shattering into a dozen pieces on the floor. The coffee spread across the diner's lino floor but Emma didn't notice. Instead she looked at the person who had just appeared. There, in the doorway of the diner and with snowflakes resting on her dark hair, stood the woman with the beautiful brown eyes she had seen in her dreams. For the first time Emma's eyes found hers and it was real.

Regina was real.


	9. Chapter 9

"Emma."

Regina spoke her name softly, like a whisper. Dark eyes were fixed on the blonde woman sitting in the diner, shards of a broken coffee mug at her feet. Until now, until this very moment, Regina hadn't believed she would actually see her again. She'd hoped but hope was all she had. But right now she had more. Emma was here. She had found her way back to Storybrooke. She had come home.

"Do I know you?" Emma asked, her voice sharper than she had intended it to be. Her defences went up the longer she looked at Regina. How was it possible she had seen this woman in her dreams?

Regina's face fell as the realisation hit her.

"No." Her voice was hollow and she averted her eyes, unwilling to let anyone see her pain. She pushed her hands into the pocket of her coat and turned around. "No, you don't."

She pushed against the door and it opened, inviting in a bitter gust of wind and a small heap of snow. She stepped out of the diner, tears burning behind her eyes, and she walked down the three steps. Regina froze when she heard the door open again and turned around to find Emma in the doorway, blonde hair dancing around her face and questioning blue eyes fixed on her.

"Wait!"

Emma walked towards her through the snow. Regina watched as the snowflakes came to rest on her golden locks, tangling themselves in Emma's hair. The lump in her throat was almost impossible to swallow and she couldn't remember ever having felt as much pain as she did right at this moment. For the first time since her decision to come back to Storybrooke did she wonder whether she had done the right thing. She wasn't sure she could live like this.

The stoic mask of the Storybrooke mayor she had once been almost effortlessly slipped back in place. It had been a long time but it was still so easy to hide herself behind a different persona. The warmth in Regina's coffee coloured eyes died down and was replaced by a cold, hard look. She had to protect herself. This was what she had always done. She'd push people away because she was afraid to get hurt.

"Can I help you?"

Emma hesitated. She couldn't stop looking at the other woman. Something had changed the moment their gazes had locked and she couldn't explain what it was. It was a feeling, deep down. It was as if she had been looking for something and now she had found it but she didn't know what it was she had been searching for. She briefly glanced up to the sky. It was grey and full of snow. The streets were covered in a thick blanket of white dust.

"I feel like I've seen you before," Emma said, her green eyes narrowing. She searched Regina's face. "What's your name?"

Regina felt her body stiffen and a chill ripped down her spine. "I hardly think this is appropriate."

"Don't bullshit me. You knew my name even though I am pretty sure we've never met. Who are you?"

"Very well," Regina said. The distance she created between herself and Emma felt wrong. She tried to relax but the overwhelming aching in her chest made it difficult. "My name is Regina."

"Regina." Emma said the name quietly, almost as if to test it. She heard it in the back of her mind, like an echo. It was her own voice whispering it. She'd called Regina's name in her dream and she had called it several times since then. Her eyes still held the dark haired woman's gaze. "Regina…"

"Mills."

Emma's eyes widened. "Regina Mills? You're kidding, right?"

"I assure you, I most certainly am not."

Emma brushed the melting snow out of her eyes and looked around. The whole of Storybrooke had been blanketed. She felt despair bubble up deep down in her gut. The world around her didn't seem to make any sense anymore.

"Can you explain to me why I drove through here yesterday and didn't see this town?" Emma asked. "And today it's suddenly here?"

Regina cocked her head. "Are you sure about that because I know this town has been here for quite some time. Perhaps you took a wrong turn? It happens a lot around here, Miss…." She almost added 'Mills' to that sentence but swallowed it just in time, leaving the sentence like a question.

"Mills," Emma answered without thinking. "Emma Mills."

Regina's eyes fluttered shut as she heard the words fall from Emma's lips. It was music to her ears. "Well then, Miss Mills, if there's nothing else, there are several other errands I need to run today. Do enjoy the friendliness of Storybrooke." She cast a look over her shoulder at Emma's yellow Bug. It was snowed in and it looked like the weather wasn't showing any signs of easing of. "I'm afraid the weather has left you trapped. There's an inn down the road from here. Granny owns it. I am sure she'll be happy to rent you and your son a room."

Regina started down the path but Emma caught up with her. The snow clung to her jeans and her boots but she didn't care. Without warning she took Regina's arm and the sudden jolt of electricity that shot through her knocked both of them backwards. Regina's head snapped up and Emma's weary eyes trailed up to meet Regina's. She stared at the dark haired woman.

"I know you," she said softly. "I know I do but I don't know why."

Regina's mask fell. All the sadness and the pain filled her eyes and she tried to smile but it never quite lit up her face. Emma's hand was still on her arm and it left her skin burning. "You will," she said softly. "In time."

Before Emma had a chance to say something else, Regina had crossed the road. Emma watched her as she walked away. Her figure grew smaller in the distance but she couldn't take her eyes of her. Only once Regina had disappeared form her view did she turn around to go back inside. Her hands were frozen and her hair was wet.

She slipped back into her seat and found Henry looking at her.

"She's the Evil Queen."

"What?" Emma looked over her shoulder for Ruby to order another cup of coffee.

"The woman who just walked in here. She's the Evil Queen. You know, Snow White's stepmother, the one who tried to have her killed?" Henry continued. The fact that they had arrived in a place that until yesterday didn't seem to exist bothered him a lot less than it bothered Emma. "I told you this town is full of fairy tale characters.

"Well, looks like we're going to be stuck with them for a little while," Emma muttered as Ruby appeared alongside her table with another mug of coffee and a beaming smile. She cast a quick glance at the girl's face before letting her eyes drift to the window. "Damn snow."

"Will you be driving home today?" Ruby inquired, leaning against the table.

"Doesn't look like it," Emma groaned. "Regina… the woman that was here earlier… she says Granny owns an inn?"

"Yeah!" Ruby's smile grew even wider. "Just down the road. You need a place to stay?"

Emma cradled her head in her hands. "It would appear so."

"Great! I'll let her know."

Ruby disappeared into the kitchen and found Granny stacking the dishwasher. The older woman turned around when Ruby walked in and noticed the wide grin on her face. She quirked an eyebrow in question. "What is it, Ruby?"

"She's staying."

"Emma?" Granny asked and Ruby nodded.

"She wants a room at the inn."

"Well I'll be damned," Granny said and she looked out the small window in the kitchen. Snow was still falling from the sky and it didn't look like it was going to end anytime soon. "I don't normally agree with Regina's magic but she creates one hell of a snow storm."

Ruby grinned before walking back into the diner. When she reached Emma's table she smiled. The blonde woman she knew so well looked up and Ruby saw the tired green eyes. "Granny says she's got some rooms available. She can take you right over if you want."

"Thanks," Emma said and finished off her coffee. "Do you know where I can buy some clothes and stuff around here? We left all our things back at the other hotel and it doesn't look like I'll be getting them anytime soon."

"There are a couple of shops just down the road," Ruby answered and she cocked her head. "You'll be able to get whatever you need from them." She hesitated and decided to take the plunge. "Granny asked me to invite you to the yearly Christmas party."

"Christmas party?" Emma asked. She'd looked around the diner. The place didn't look particularly Christmassy to her.

"It's just a get together, really. You know, some drinks, some food. Some people sing Christmas carols but they're never any good." Ruby shrugged. "It's up to you but I'd hate for you guys to miss out on Christmas just because you're snowed in here at Storybrooke."

"I'd love to!" Henry sounded excited. "Can we go, mom?"

Emma stood up. "We'll see."

"Granny will be right out," Ruby said as she walked back to the bar and at that same moment Granny appeared from the storage room, already wearing her coat. "You'll see, Storybrooke isn't that bad once you get to know us a little."

Emma wasn't too sure about that. The whole town seemed a little strange.

She and Henry followed Granny down the road and after ten minutes they reached the inn. It was set back a little from the road and Granny unlocked the front door, letting them in. She gave them the choice from a forest or a square room view and handed them the keys before writing down her phone number and telling them that if they needed anything, they could call her.

Emma opened the door to the room where she would be spending the night. It was cosy, with a queen sized bed and pink flowered wallpaper. A large mirror stood in the corner of the room, next to a chest of drawers. A writing desk had been placed underneath the window. On the opposite side of the room was a door that led to the small but perfectly functional en-suite bathroom. She wondered if Henry's room, next door to hers, looked the same.

She stepped back out of the room and knocked on the door to the adjacent one. Henry answered almost immediately and she could tell from the look on his face that he was quite happy with their new accommodation.

"Hey kid," she said as she crossed the room and fell down on his bed. "Can I borrow your book?"

"Why?" he asked wearily.

"I want to read it."

"No you don't." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. It was a move he had copied from her and he had done it well. "You don't believe the stuff I told you."

She fixed him with a piercing stare. This was not the time for arguments. "Yes, Henry, I do."

"You believe?" Surprise filled his voice. "You actually believe?"

"Henry, just give me the damn book!"

He pulled it out from underneath the bed and gave it to her. The moment her fingers brushed along the letters written across the front she saw another flash of Regina's face. She shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of the image and stood up, clutching the book under her arm. When she turned around in the doorway she found her son looking at her.

"Where are you going?" he wanted to know.

"My room."

He cocked his head. "Are you going to read the book?"

"Yes." She wasn't sure if she wanted to but it seemed that since they were stuck here, the least she could do was try to figure out what the hell they were dealing with.

"Ok."

Emma shook her head as she closed the door behind her and walked back to her own room. She locked the door, kicked off her shoes and climbed onto the bed. She propped up the pillows and lay down. The mattress was comfortable and soft and the sheets freshly washed. They smelt of the outdoors, she realised. Fresh pine and sea air.

She slowly opened the book and looked at the first page. A drawing of two people on what appeared to be their wedding day. The woman had long dark hair but the man was blonde. She was a princess, he was a prince. The next page described the love story of Snow White and Prince Charming and how their lives were almost ruined by the Evil Queen. When she turned the page, Emma felt her breath choke in the back of her throat.

There, in the middle of the page, drawn with a dress as black as the night and eyes that looked like they could kill, was Regina, the woman she had seen in the diner, the woman who had known her name. She was the Evil Queen, the cause of all misery, the one who wanted nothing but take away the happiness of the person she despised the most.

Emma couldn't take her eyes of the drawing. Slowly she let her fingers dance across the woman's face, as if to familiarise herself with the lines of her jaw and the curve of her lips. She didn't feel anger; she didn't feel any of the things any person would feel when confronted by someone who had destroyed so many lives. Instead she felt something she couldn't explain; something warm, something that whispered to her that what she saw in front of her right now was only a single piece of the puzzle.

~()~

Regina closed the door behind her. The house was empty. There was no echo of footsteps, no sound of Henry stumbling about in his room upstairs. When she first walked through the door of this house last night, her heart had shattered. It looked exactly like she had left it. She had recreated the perfect memory but something was missing.

As she walked through the hallway to the kitchen to pour herself a drink, Regina fought against the bitter tears of loneliness and loss. Seeing Emma and Henry again had reminded her of what it was she had done; both the good and the bad. She had made the ultimate sacrifice; she had to give up the people she loved the most. She didn't know, not until right now, just how much seeing the other woman would make her feel alive. Laying eyes on Emma again reminded her just how much she loved her and how she could not tell her.

A knock on the front door made Regina turn back around and her heart beat a little faster with excitement as she approached the door. It sank when she saw it wasn't Emma. Instead she looked into the faces of Mary Margaret and David. Both seemed a little rattled.

"Is it true?" Mary Margaret asked as Regina stepped aside to let them in. "Is she here? Leroy texted me. He says he saw you and Emma at the diner."

Regina softly closed the door. "Yes," she said quietly. "She's here."

Mary Margaret's eyes fluttered shut and David put his hand on his wife's shoulder.

"Thank God," he said quietly. "Did you talk to her?"

"She doesn't remember," Regina answered, just as quietly. Suddenly she was nervous to let her voice carry but she didn't really know why. Her brown eyes were nearly hollow. She turned away from David and Mary Margaret and led the way to the living room. "She didn't know who I was." She paused. "Not exactly, anyway."

"What do you mean?" Mary Margaret wanted to know.

"She seems to have some kind of recollection," Regina replied. "But it is more like a distant dream she cannot explain. She thinks she knows me but she doesn't know how or why."

"This is what you expected, right?" David wanted to know. "You said this would happen."

Regina sank down on the couch and folded her hands in her lap. "Henry is the best chance we have."

"Just like before," Mary Margaret answered. "Pan wasn't wrong when he said Henry has the heart of the Truest Believer."

"I saw the book. He has it. It's what brought them here. I don't know how much he has figured out but it will only be a matter of time before he realises who Emma really is." Regina heaved a sigh and let her eyes wander around the ornate living room. It had once been her pride and joy. Not it was just another empty space, void of anything that felt remotely like living. "As soon as he knows, the Curse will break for him."

Mary Margaret's eyes fixed on the woman who had been her nemesis for so long. Some days it was hard to believe they were on the same side now. The pain in Regina's eyes hit her hard. "What about Emma? How can we break the Curse for her?"

Regina avoided making eye-contact. "The same way we break any Curse."

"True Love's Kiss."

Mary Margaret looked at David. He'd said the words so quietly it had almost been a whisper. He seemed confused but Mary Margaret knew what Regina had been trying to say. She looked at Regina and the raven haired woman nodded. Still she didn't look up, focusing instead on the lines on the floor. She couldn't bring herself to look her newfound friends in the eye.

"Regina…" Mary Margaret said and she circled the table to sit down next to Regina. "Is he right? Is True Love's Kiss the way to break the Curse and make Emma remember?"

"Yes."

"So…"

There was a bitterness to Regina's voice when she spoke again. "I know what you're going to say, Mary Margaret, but it can't be me."

"But you love her!" Mary Margaret exclaimed. "Everything you did back in the Enchanted Forest, the life you gave her and Henry. You love Emma!" She reached for Regina's hand but Regina jerked away. Mary Margaret looked hurt. "You love her."

Regina's dark eyes met those of Mary Margaret. They were harsh and flickered with anger and resentment. "Nobody loves the Evil Queen."

"But you're not the Evil Queen anymore!" Mary Margaret protested and her outpour of protest was enough to make Regina momentarily question herself. Mary Margaret, or Snow, herself had always been the one to see her as nothing but the Evil Queen; rotten to the core with a soul darker than a winter's night. "You're Regina now!"

"She doesn't remember me." Regina swallowed. "She doesn't know that there was a time where she shared the care for Henry, no matter how much it angered the pair of us. She doesn't know he is our son. She doesn't know what kind of life we all lived, what brought us here. She doesn't know she is the Savior. Emma doesn't remember me."

"And she won't remember any of us if you don't try to break that Curse," Mary Margaret interjected. "Regina, if you had asked me a year ago if I believed you could be Emma's true love then I would have probably shot you with my bow and arrow. But I've seen what you have done, how you've changed. You fought for a year to get us back here." She reached out a second time and this time Regina let her cover her hand. "We've all changed, Regina. We aren't who we used to be. Emma needs you. We all need you."

Regina took a deep breath. "So what do we do?"

David glanced out of the window and smiled. "You can start by keeping this snow storm up for the next couple of days."

They agreed to meet again the next day and Regina saw the couple out. She watched as they walked down the path, their hands tightly linked. The wind was bitter cold and whipped around her face but Regina ignored it. She watched as the snowflakes danced to an invisible and inaudible tune before slowly closing the front door behind her and retreating back into the house.

She had only just poured herself a glass of red wine when there was another knock on the door. Clutching the glass she walked from the kitchen back to the hall and answered. The glass nearly slipped through her fingers when she saw Emma standing outside in the snow. Blazing green eyes snapped up to find chocolate brown.

"I know who you are," Emma said without breaking the eye contact. She showed Regina the book. "Now I need you to tell me, who am I?"


	10. Chapter 10

Regina looked at Emma. Seeing the blonde stand outside her door, like she had done so many times before, ripped right through her. Her voice died in the back of her throat when she tried to speak and her brown eyes reflected sadness. She tried to hold Emma's gaze but couldn't bear to look into those green eyes for a moment longer.

"What on Earth are you talking about, Miss Mills?" she asked and tried to keep her voice was cold and distant as possible. It was a struggle to mask the pain she felt inside.

"This," Emma said and showed Regina the book she'd been clutching under her arm. Regina recognised it immediately. The book that had started all of this had found its way home. Emma's blazing eyes continued to search Regina's face even after the brunette had broken off the eye contact. "I know who you are."

"Miss Mills, I understand you are frustrated that your holiday plans have been ruined but I assure you, your anger is no reason to come barging in here like this," Regina said coolly. Through her eye lashes she looked at Emma. "Now, please, explain to me what this book has got to do with anything."

"You're in it," Emma breathed and she flicked through the pages until she found the image that had brought her to Regina's doorstep. Once again she looked down at the drawing of the Evil Queen. The resemblance was striking, other than that the woman standing in front of her right now looked nowhere near as vicious and deranged as the woman clad in the black dress in the book. But she recognised the eyes.

Regina knew she wasn't handling this the way she was supposed to. If she wanted Emma to break the Curse a second time, the blonde had to remember the life she had lived here in Storybrooke. But Regina couldn't bring herself to tell her. Not like this. There was too much at stake, she had too much to lose.

"Don't be ridiculous."

Emma turned a few more pages, coming across by now familiar faces. The girl who had served her the coffee in the diner, Ruby, appeared to be Red Riding Hood. The old woman who owned in the inn named Granny. Their pictures were all in the book and according to the stories written there, they were all part of some grander tale. A fairy tale that wasn't like any story she had ever read before. "Everyone's in it!"

"Did you hit your head?" Regina asked, wrinkling her nose a little when Emma took a step closer to the open door. Her breath hitched when she caught a waft of a familiar perfume and the harshness in her face softened.

Suddenly Emma's green eyes found Regina's again and the hint of anger that had flickered behind them had died. What remained was a look of loss, of despair. "Please," Emma said softly, "let me in."

Regina folded her arms across her chest. "Why?"

"Because I need to talk to someone," Emma said breathlessly. "And you're the only person I can think of."

It was true. Regina had been the first person to come to her mind after she looked at Henry's book. Perhaps because she had been on her mind a lot more than Emma would have liked to admit or maybe just because when their eyes met back at the diner, she knew something had changed. A cold shiver crept down her spine and her clothes were wet now that the snow had begun to melt. She looked at Regina. "Please."

Regina stepped aside and gave a curd nod. "Very well. Do come in, Miss Mills."

As Emma filed past her into the hallway and that perfume prickled her nose a second time, Regina remembered the first time they had met. It felt like a lifetime ago and in some ways, it was. It had been a dark night and she'd been sick with worry over Henry. The most terrible and haunting thoughts had filled her head until the knock on the door came and her son arrived back home. But he didn't come alone. He brought Emma with him and from that moment on, her whole life changed.

First she hated her. She knew who she was and she knew what Emma being here would mean. But at some point even hatred turned to love. She couldn't let herself love her though. She couldn't allow herself to feel such heartbreak and deal with another loss. It was better to watch from the side lines and suffer internally than risking losing her heart all over again. But Emma had changed something inside the Evil Queen; she had broken through the darkness that stopped her from loving and for the first time in her life, Regina had felt what it was like to have hope.

"Would you like something to drink?" Regina offered as Emma awkwardly turned around, her hands pushed into her pockets. "Apple cider, wine, coffee?"

Emma swallowed. Her throat had suddenly become unexplainably dry. "Just some water, please."

Regina walked to the kitchen and when she heard footsteps behind her she judged that Emma was following her. She picked a tall glass from the cupboard, poured Emma some cold water from the fridge and turned around to find the blonde leaning against the doorframe, her eyes lingering on Regina.

"Thank you," Emma said softly when Regina handed her the glass. Their hands brushed against each other and the sudden spark of energy made her take a quick step backwards. A shade of scarlet flushed across her cheeks and she averted her eyes.

"Now," Regina said, faking a smile to mask the hurt inside. "What can I do for you, Miss Mills?"

"You're the Mayor of this town, right?" Emma asked after she took a sip from the ice cold water.

"Third term," Regina replied, the fake smile still firmly in place. It never quite reached her eyes. "Tough job but someone's gotta do it."

Emma put the fairy tale book down on the kitchen counter. She kept her back turned to Regina. "When I drove through here yesterday, this town wasn't here. It didn't exist."

"Like I said, Miss Mills, you must have taken a wrong turn somewhere," Regina stoically replied. "I assure you, Storybrooke has been here for quite some time."

Emma slowly turned around. "It isn't on any map."

"What are you saying? That this is all some kind of fantasy?"

"You tell me, Madame Mayor."

Regina's eyes fluttered shut when those words reached her ears. It had been a long time since anyone called her that. It was the echo of another life.

"Listen, I understand you and your son have had a long journey and I'm sorry the weather has ruined your Christmas plans," Regina said. "But I assure you, whatever it is that you're thinking, it isn't true."

Emma leant against the counter, her green eyes fixed on Regina. "So you're not the Evil Queen?"

"Listen, why don't you show me this book you're talking about?" Regina suggested. "I'm sure this is all just some kind of misunderstanding." She cocked her head. "Does the book belong to you?"

"It belongs to my son, Henry."

Our son, Regina thought, but swallowed the words before speaking them out loud. "And how old is he?"

"Twelve."

"Children do have a wonderful imagination at that age, Miss Swan."

Emma's eyes widened and she took a step in Regina's direction but not enough to enter the brunette's personal space. Her voice trembled as she spoke. "What did you just call me?"

Regina's heart sank. "My apologies, Miss Mills. I must have confused you with someone else." She averted her eyes and brushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear. The composure she had managed to keep up crumbled as the loss she had experienced shone through on her face. "Someone I used to know. You bear a rather striking resemblance to her. I'm sorry."

"Someone else called me by that same name a few days ago," Emma said slowly as she remembered the red haired woman who delivered the parcel with the glass unicorn to her office back in New York. It had struck her as odd then but to hear that same name spoken a second time was just something that seemed near enough impossible. "I'm beginning to think this is more than just a coincidence."

"Believe me, it is anything but," Regina answered, her voice suddenly so much softer.

Emma's eyes narrowed as she watched the woman before her crumble. She couldn't look away. This was the woman she had seen in her dreams and although she did not understand how or why, she felt she somehow knew her. She swallowed hard but the lump in her throat was impossible to shift. She stood in a stranger's house, in a kitchen she didn't know, but she didn't feel uncomfortable. It was as if she had been here before, between these walls.

"I'm sorry," Emma clumsily muttered and went to grab the book of the counter. She started for the kitchen door but turned around when she felt Regina's presence closely behind her. The brunette's hand reached out to stop her from leaving. "Perhaps I shouldn't have come here."

"No," Regina whispered. Her brown eyes sought out Emma's green. "I'm glad you came."

Emma didn't answer. Instead she walked out of the kitchen and through the hallway back to the front door. She didn't wait for Regina to catch up and stepped outside into the snow. The thick white flakes were still falling from the sky, smothering the town of Storybrooke in a wintery blanket of beauty and serenity.

"Emma!"

She turned around slowly when Regina called her name from the open door and found the brunette stepping out into the snow. The feather light white flakes rested on her dark hair as she walked her way towards Emma. When she reached her she took the blonde's hand.

Emma felt the warm feeling creep up along her fingers to her wrist and through her arm. It was as if someone had gently poured warm water inside her veins. The touch erased the cold of the snow.

"What's happening?" she asked, her eyes looking down at Regina's hand holding hers.

Regina smiled as she pulled her hand back. Her brown eyes were kind. "Destiny."

Emma didn't answer. She cast one last look at Regina before turning around and walking her way through the snow to the side of the road. She felt Regina's eyes burn into her back but couldn't bring herself to turn around. She kept walking, with her head down and clutching the book against her chest. The bitter cold wind robbed her of her breath and made her eyes water but she didn't care. When the tears rolled across her cheeks, the touch of winter slowly turned them into ice.

~()~

Regina's gloved hand knocked against the wooden apartment door and waited patiently. She heard a stumbling sound on the other side. A chain was moved and a key turned before the door opened and she looked up into the face of Mary Margaret.

"Regina," she said and stepped aside. The older woman was wet from the snow and strands of dark hair stuck to her forehead. "Come in. What happened?"

"Emma," Regina answered as she walked into the apartment and heaved a sigh as she felt the comforting heat.

"What about her?" David asked. He stood in the kitchen had had just finished making coffee. He took a third mug from the shelf.

"She came to see me."

Mary Margaret's eyes snapped up. "What?!"

"She's realized something's happening," Regina said as she sank down on one of the chairs at the table and rested her head in her hands. "The town reappearing, the book…. She knows something's going on and I don't know how to tell her or explain it to her."

"What do you mean?" David wanted to know and he put the steaming mug of coffee down in front of Regina. Her cold hands eagerly warmed themselves as she picked it up.

"The same way Henry did before," Regina explained. "The book is telling her something. She called me the Evil Queen." She swallowed and stared down into her drink. "She recognised me."

"But that's a good thing, right?" Mary Margaret suggested. "Isn't it?"

"I don't know. How would you feel if you thought you were stuck in a town full of fairy tale characters?"

David leant against the table. He hadn't seen his daughter since she returned to Storybrooke and he didn't know if he could face her without her remembering who he was. He looked sideways at Mary Margaret. He knew she definitely wouldn't be able to look at Emma without wanting to tell her the truth.

"So where does that leave us?" he asked.

"I don't know," Regina said quietly. "But that book isn't going to help us."

"It brought her here."

"And it makes her distrustful," Regina countered.

David rubbed the back of his head. "What about Henry?"

"What about him?"

"He was the one who figured it all out the first time, wasn't he?" David said. "He figured out Emma was the Savior and that we were all living in this world. He knew she would have to break the Curse. Can we get him to somehow help her remember?"

"Emma will only remember if the Curse is broken," Regina reminded him. "And there is only one way that this can be done."

Mary Margaret looked at Regina and recognised the agony she was trying to hide. "That's what this is, isn't it?" she asked. "You're afraid that Emma won't recognise you."

David looked at his wife. "But she just said…"

"Emma recognised Regina from a drawing in the book, as the Evil Queen," Mary Margaret clarified. "But for the Curse to break she has to recognise Regina as something else."

"Don't." Regina sounded defeated. "We both know that's never going to happen. Neal is Henry's father. He is Emma's true love."

Mary Margaret had never seen Regina doubt herself. There hadn't been a moment in her reign as Queen that she didn't have the faith that she would get what she wanted. The woman she had gotten to know back in the Enchanted Forest, long before they first came to Storybrooke, didn't stop at anything to get what she desired. The woman who sat across the table from her tonight wasn't that same person anymore.

"You don't know that," Mary Margaret said, her brown eyes fixed on Regina. "Regina, you'll never know if you don't try." She reached across the table and covered Regina's hand with her own. "And for what it's worth, I think it's you."

Regina looked up. "Why?" she whispered in disbelief. "Why would you think it's me?"

"Because tonight, when she had questions and needed someone to answer them, she came to you," Mary Margaret answered. "It's you that she's been seeing, you that she recognised." She smiled as she looked over her shoulder at David. "Take it from somebody who knows." Her eyes met Regina's again. "It's you."

~()~

Emma walked into the inn soaking wet and cold to the bone. She found the reception desk empty and stamped some of the snow of her shoes before climbing the stairs to the second floor. She stuck the key into the lock of her door, turned it and stepped inside. She kicked off her shoes, threw the book onto the bed and crossed the room to the window. It had finally stopped snowing but Storybrooke was covered in at least fifteen inches of the white stuff. A frustrated groan escaped her. There was no chance she could leave this place, no matter how badly she wanted to.

Emma rested her head against the cold glass as she climbed into the window sill. It was a position of comfort, something she had done ever since she was a little girl. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She'd spent many nights like this, staring out of the windows of her foster homes, wondering if her real family ever thought of her. Every time she climbed into a window sill and pulled her legs up, she became that little girl again, still looking for a place she could truly call home.

Her eyes slowly closed as the images from mere moments earlier flooded back into her mind.

Regina.

The knock on the door startled her and her eyes snapped back open just as Henry walked into the room.

Emma heaved a sigh, slipped out of the window sill and ruffled her son's hair. "Hey, kid."

"Where did you go?" he curiously asked.

"To have a chat with the Mayor," she answered as she perched herself at the end of the bed. She looked down into her lap.

Henry stared at her in shock. "You went to see the Evil Queen?!"

A small smile tugged at Emma's lips and she shook her head. "Henry, Mayor Mills is hardly an Evil Queen."

"Mills?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "She's got the same last name as us?"

"It happens," Emma shrugged. "Loads of people have 'Mills' as their last name, you know. Not just us."

"Did you ask her?" he wanted to know, "About the town? Did you ask her why it wasn't here yesterday?"

"I did," Emma answered. "But I think we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere." Her eyes drifted to the window. "I mean, how can a town not be here the one day but suddenly appear the next?"

"Magic!" Henry insisted. "This place is full of it!"

"Henry, there's no such thing as magic."

"There is!" he countered and grabbed the book she'd put on the bed. He turned the pages until he almost reached the end and pointed at the picture of Storybrooke, the image that had been the last one to appear. "Magic is what brought it back here!"

Emma looked at her son. "Why would Storybrooke come back if it had been destroyed before?"

"Do you remember what I told you about everyone having been Cursed and the Savior breaking tat Curse?" Henry asked and Emma nodded, remembering that Henry had told her a story like that only days earlier. "There was another Curse and they need the Savior to break it again."

"The Savior?" Emma questioned. "And is the Savior in the book too?"

"Not really."

"Not really, eh? So if they are not in the Book then how do you know there ever was one?"

"Because they broke the first Curse!" Henry said, his voice echoing both excitement and irritation. "They came to Storybrooke and broke the Curse. But then the second Curse came and they were forced to leave. They couldn't stay."

"So you're saying the Savior is out there somewhere but they left?" Emma shook her head. "Some hero."

Henry's eyes found his mothers and he put the book down. "They came back."

"They came back?"

"Yes." Henry nodded. "They came home."

"So who is this Savior according to you? Are they a fairy tale character too? You know, is he Aladdin or something?"

"It's you."


	11. Chapter 11

"Henry, you're being ridiculous now!"

Emma's blazing eyes fixed on her son. She watched as the features of his face changed. She recognised the anger over her rejection before he had even spoken a word. She turned away from him and focused on the window instead. It had started snowing again and she felt the frustration she'd kept bottled up inside of her slowly reach the surface.

It had been Henry's idea to come to Maine. Some crazy thought based on the book he'd found in school had ripped them away from their warm and cosy apartment in New York City right before Christmas and now they were stuck here, snowed in, with nowhere else to go. Emma knew it was a bad thing to resent him for it but she couldn't help it.

"So you don't believe me?"

The hurt in his voice hit her like a ton of bricks but Emma didn't turn around. She wrapped her arms around herself and continued to watch the snowflakes fall from the sky.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Henry said again, this time a little louder. She heard the tears that laced his words and couldn't bring herself to turn around and look at him.

"Henry," she said softly. "Look at where we are. We're snowed in, stuck in some godforsaken town in Maine. We should've been celebrating Christmas back in our apartment and now…" She heaved a sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. Slowly she turned around; bracing herself for the pain she knew she would see flickering behind her son's eyes. "I tried to tell you that this is all some kind of a dream you've been having but this has got to stop."

Henry dropped the book he'd been holding back on the bed and in a flash Emma saw a younger version of herself. Many times, too many times, she had looked as hurt as he did. Whenever the hope of finding a proper family was shattered or whenever she was moved to yet another foster home, dragging her belongings behind her in a garbage bag with the weight of the world resting on her shoulders. She wished someone had told her the truth about how damn hard it was going to be instead of feeding her stories of hope that never came true. She didn't want to do that to Henry. She didn't want him to believe in something that was never going to happen.

"Then why did we come here?" Henry asked, shaking his head in anger as Emma took a step towards him. "Why did you tell me we could go to Maine?!" Tears burnt behind his eyes as he looked up at his mother. "You saw the well! You watched me find that sign. How can you say none of this is true?"

"Henry, you found a sign with 'Storybrooke' on it in a forest a couple of miles from here," Emma said softly. "One of the kids could have been playing by the well and left it there. There are a hundred different reasons why this could have happened but this…" She crossed the room to the bed and picked up the book. "…this has got to end, Henry. This book is getting to you and I don't like it."

He stared up at her with such anger that Emma shivered. "So you're saying you don't think something strange is happening here?"

She didn't answer immediately as she remembered Regina. The moment the dark haired woman had walked into the diner, something had changed. She didn't know how or why, just that it had. It was her face she had seen in her dreams, her voice she continued to hear. Some of the things that had led her to this very moment didn't make sense and it didn't matter how hard she tried, she didn't understand them, but to believe that all of it had been created through what Henry called magic was something Emma just couldn't accept.

"Henry, the only thing strange about this place is how it's not on any map but I'm sure there's a good explanation for that," Emma answered.

"Fine." He cocked his head a little. "Believe whatever you want. But as long as you don't believe, the people here will never quite be free."

"And why's that?"

"Because only the Savior can help them."

"And you think I am the Savior," Emma remembered and desperately raised her hands into the air. "Henry, come on, really? A Savior, me?"

"You did it before!" He was almost shouting at her now. "You broke the First Curse with True Love's Kiss."

Emma shook her head, the hint of a smile suddenly playing around her lips. "It would be nice to find just a normal kind of love, let alone true love." Through her eyelashes she peered up at her son. "Henry, this ends right here. We're going to be stuck here until the weather clears up and once the roads are no longer too dangerous, I'm taking us back to New York."

He stared at her in shock. "You're leaving?"

"As soon as we can, yes."

"You can't! We can't leave."

"Henry, that's enough," Emma said firmly and whilst clutching the book she walked to the door, grabbing her coat just before opening it. "I'm going to solve this once and for all and when I come back, we won't talk about this again." Her eyes found his and she swallowed back the hurt she felt inside over doing this to him. But it was getting out of control. "Wait for me to get back."

She closed the door to the room behind her and rested against it with her back for a few seconds, allowing herself a moment to gather her thoughts and control the rapid racing of her heart. It was thumping in her chest so ferociously that it felt like it was about to break through her ribcage. Biting back the tears and ignoring her son's angry footsteps on the other side of the door, Emma started down the two flights of stairs that led down into the reception area of the Inn.

It was empty and Emma opened the front door. The bitter wind took her breath away as she stepped out into the wintery scene. Snowflakes landed on her cheeks and melted, creating the illusion of tears, and with her head bent and the book pressed against her chest, Emma began to walk.

She didn't really know where she was going but she let her feet carry her without thinking. The sounds of the town barely got through to her. She heard people's voices but didn't look up to see to whom they belonged, keeping her eyes fixed on the snow beneath her feet instead. She held on to the book as if it was her only lifeline and the longer she walked, the more desperate she became to get rid of it.

She lost her balance when she walked into something hard and her eyes snapped up just in time to make out the features of a by now familiar face. Somehow she managed to stay on her feet but only because a strong hand grabbed hold of her arm and held her up. Green eyes instinctively found brown and Emma looked up at Regina.

"Emma," Regina whispered and her eyes lit up. "What are you doing here?"

"I… I don't know," Emma stammered. Her eyes flashed from Regina's face to the brunette's hand on her arm. Underneath her coat her skin began to glow. "Walking, I guess."

"Walking anywhere in particular?" Regina inquired.

Emma looked around. Without realising it she had almost reached the outskirts of town. In the distance she saw the forest, the tree tops covered in thick snow. She swallowed hard and looked back at Regina. "No," she answered, her voice small. "I guess I am just trying to clear my mind."

Regina arched an eyebrow. "Something's troubling you? Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I don't think so," Emma sighed and ran her fingers through her now damp hair. "It's Henry."

Regina's eyes suddenly became sad but Emma didn't see how the Mayor's face changed. "Something happened to your son?"

"No, he's fine," Emma replied. "Well, sort of anyway. I am just… He keeps going on about all these stories he's read. You know, the stuff about Storybrooke being full of magic and all that." Her green eyes found Regina's again. "I'm beginning to worry he's focusing too much on this book. It's all he talks about. I can't have a conversation with him about anything else."

"I see." Regina sounded reserved. There was nothing to indicate that Emma believed what Henry had been telling her and she wondered if perhaps it would be better to focus on him for now instead of trying to convince Emma. She noticed the blonde was clutching the book. "So what will you do?"

"I was just looking for somewhere to hide this from him. I know it probably makes me sound like a terrible mother but I don't want him obsessing over stuff like this." Emma showed Regina the book and the brunette gasped quietly all the sight of the familiar looking cover. "As soon as the snow clears I'm taking him back to New York. No offence, your town is lovely, Madame Mayor, and everybody has been nothing but kind but I think it's best we leave as soon as possible."

Regina's eyes fluttered shut. "I understand."

Emma looked at the woman standing in front of her. The longer she watched her, the more she became drawn to her. She had gotten to know the features of Regina's face long before they had even met and now it seemed almost impossible to look away. Something deep down inside of her continued to whisper that it didn't matter if she left, she wouldn't ever truly be able to walk away.

"Henry pointed out that we all have the same last name," she said unexpectedly and Regina's eyes snapped back open only to find Emma's green ones staring at her. The corners of the blonde's lips twitched a little. "What are the chances of that, eh?"

"Quite substantial, judging from this." Regina managed to keep her perfect smile in place even though in her chest her heart slowly began to crumble. She pushed her hands into the pockets of her coat and averted her eyes. "I know this may sound inappropriate but I was wondering if you would allow me to cook you and your son a Christmas dinner?"

"What?" Emma blinked. "You want to cook for me and Henry?"

"I feel awful that you two are stranded here during the holidays," Regina quickly added. "It's the least I can do to make up for it."

Emma swallowed hard. The lump in the back of her throat was almost impossible to shift and she didn't have an explanation for the sudden jump she felt in her chest. "Ok," she smiled, "I accept your invitation."

"Lovely." Regina was positively beaming. "Tomorrow night, seven o'clock?"

"I'll be there," Emma replied. She felt her cheeks turn a light shade of red. "Thank you."

"Would you like me to help you get rid of this book?" Regina asked and her question brought a smile to Emma's face. In return it made Regina smile. "I do know this town better than anyone after all. I am sure I can give you some tips on where to go with it."

"Thank you but I think I've got an idea," Emma answered, still smiling.

Regina nodded. "I won't hold you any longer then." Her eyes found Emma's for the last time. "Have a good day, Miss Mill, and I shall see you tomorrow night."

She started down the road and Emma looked over her shoulder to watch Regina walk away. She called her back just before Regina was about to turn the corner and the brunette stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly. Emma ran through the snow to catch up with her and when she reached Regina she was out of breath.

"Wait," she said, "there's something I want to ask you."

Regina folded her arms across her chest. "Ok. Fire away."

"Earlier today you called me Miss Swan," Emma said and she chewed her bottom lip. She remembered the moment she had first been called by that name and hearing Regina say it too had continued to bother her. "I was just wondering… who was she to you?"

"What does it matter?"

"It's just that a few days ago I received a parcel which was addressed to Emma Swan," Emma answered. "The woman who delivered it to me seemed to be convinced that I was her. It does seem a little strange that you called me by that same name, don't you think?"

"Perhaps," Regina answered. Her smile had faltered. "To answer your question; Emma Swan was someone I knew a long time ago. Someone…." Her voice broke a little. "Someone I cared a lot about."

Emma heard the echo of pain in Regina's voice. "But you lost her?"

"Yes," Regina answered, feeling the tears burn behind her eyes. "But I haven't given up hope. Things that are lost can always be found again." She checked her watch. "Apologies, Miss Mills, but I'm afraid I am already running late for an important meeting. I'll see you tomorrow night."

Emma watched Regina walk away, the word 'goodbye' dying on the tip of her tongue.

She then turned back around and headed into the direction of the forest. She didn't run into another soul for the remainder of her walk and when she finally reached the treeline, Emma looked around before finding herself a path through the trees. She was led by instinct more than knowledge but somehow she managed to find her way back to the well where she and Henry had stopped days earlier. Their footprints had been erased by more snow.

Emma heaved a sigh before walking up the small hill and when she reached the well she looked down into the darkness below. She could barely see the water. She carefully placed the book on the edge without letting go and in her head she counted to ten. She knew Henry would struggle to forgive her for what she was about to do but she didn't have a choice. She then carefully let go of the book and watched as it fell down into the well. Seconds later it had disappeared from sight and she heard it fall in the water. A lonely tear slid down Emma's cheek as she turned around from the well and looked up at the skies. Snow continued to fall. All she wanted was for things to go back the way they had been.

~()~

Mary Margaret had just finished washing up the coffee cups and put the dish cloth down when there was a knock on the apartment door. David was upstairs, stumbling about in the guest bedroom. She crossed the room and opened the door. Her breath choked in the back of her throat when she saw the person standing outside and her hand flew up to her mouth.

"Henry."

He looked up at her, a hint of triumph flickering in his eyes. "You know who I am."

"You're Emma's son," Mary Margaret answered. There were footsteps behind her and David made his way down the stairs, eventually appearing behind her in the doorway. She looked from Henry to her husband and back.

"I know who you are," Henry said. "I remember."

Snow's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"The Curse," Henry answered. "My mom, she's your daughter." He hesitated. "And I'm your grandson."

Mary Margaret sighed in relief and dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around Henry and pulling him close. David wrapped his arms around the two of them and his eyes closed. This was as close as they were going to get to holding Emma. Henry remembered their life before the second Curse, before he and Emma left Storybrooke.

"Does Emma remember too?" Mary Margaret looked past Henry down the hall when she let go of him, half and half expecting to see her daughter come running up the stairs. "Where is she?"

"I don't know. She doesn't remember. She doesn't even believe magic is real," Henry explained. "She says she wants to leave Storybrooke as soon as the snow clears up."

"I don't think Regina is going to let that happen," David smiled. "She created this snowstorm in the first place."

"My mom did this?" Henry asked in surprise.

Mary Margaret smiled when she heard Henry refer to Regina as his mom too. "Yes, she did," she answered. "She did all of this to bring you and Emma back." She cocked her head. "But I don't understand why you do remember but Emma doesn't."

"I think I know," Henry answered as he stepped into the apartment and David closed the door behind him. "During the first Curse, I was the only one who could see what happened because I wasn't born in the Enchanted Forest. When the second Curse came, my mom gave us new memories but she didn't change the fact that I could tell the difference if I ever came back to Storybrooke. Coming back here broke her magic." He looked from Mary Margaret to David. "True Love, remember?"

Mary Margaret turned to look at her husband and she could tell he'd read her mind. "If Regina's True Love broke the Curse for you then why didn't it break for Emma too when she came here?"

"Because I know my mom loves me. She told me many times," Henry answered. "But Emma doesn't know my mom loves her too so True Love's magic doesn't work for her until she does."

Mary Margaret was about to speak when in the distance a low grumbling sound could be heard. She rushed across the room to the window and stared outside. Her eyes widened as she noticed the dark clouds gathering in the sky over the forest and she turned around to look at David.

"Call Regina," she said. "We've got a problem."


	12. Chapter 12

Regina heard the rumbling in the sky and turned on her heel. Slowly her eyes trailed up. Snow continued to fall but something had changed. There was smoke in the air. It prickled her nose and fear stirred in her heart. The dark clouds slowly closed in on Storybrooke and she quietly gasped as she began to understand what was happening. The fear was almost instantly replaced by panic.

Without thinking she started running into the direction of the forest. Her lungs were pressed against her ribcage and hurt so bad that she thought they were about to explode. She ran through the snow as best and as fast she could, leaving the fine white flakes twirling in the air in her wake. Her eyes were fixed on the treeline in the distance.

"Emma!" Her voice was carried forward by the wind but no answer came.

Regina reached the forest and glanced up at the sky again. The clouds had become thicker and darker and in the distance the faint sound of rumbling could be heard. It had stopped snowing but she knew they would soon be facing something far, far worse. Her dark eyes searched through the trees but she didn't see Emma.

There was only one place the blonde could be, Regina thought, and she quickly found her way through the trees into the direction of the well. It didn't take her long to find Emma's footprints in the snow and she followed them, her heart pounding in the back of her throat. A flash of lightening unexpectedly lit the skies and a cold shiver crept down Regina's spine. She was running out of time.

When finally the well appeared in the distance, Regina froze. Thick, black smoke was circling up from its depths. Mixed within the black was a toxic shade of green. The ground below her feet seemed to grumble and shake and a strong, cold wind suddenly pulled at her hair. The smoke had begun to engulf the forest but Regina could make out the faint shape of a person lying on the floor. A flash of blonde hair appeared before being swallowed up in the smoke once again.

"Emma!"

Regina ran towards the unconscious blonde and fell to her knees at her side. Emma lay on her stomach, her face in the snow. Her body felt cold to the touch and Regina carefully rolled Emma onto her back. Her eyes were closed and a small amount of blood trickled from her nose. Her hair was wet and clung to her forehead and Regina carefully brushed the damp strands of out of Emma's face. The other woman stirred underneath her touch and slowly her green eyes opened.

Regina heaved a sigh in relief. "Emma," she whispered as she watched recognition dawn in Emma's eyes. Her grip on the blonde tightened as around them the smoke began to close in and she tried to pull Emma to her feet but Emma didn't move. "We've got to get out of here."

"What happened?" Emma groaned.

"I'll explain later," Regina insisted, giving another firm pull at Emma's arm in an attempt to get her up. She glanced over her shoulder at the well from where the smoke continued to billow into the air and her hands unexpectedly slipped away from Emma's arm as she stood up. She took a few brisk steps towards the well and held both her hands over the opening.

The white jets that erupted from Regina's fingertips shot down deep into well, cutting through the smoke. It instantly started to thin and it looked as if it was trying to escape faster than it had done until now. Regina didn't move her hands, forcing her magic down into the darkness below and her eyes fluttered shut as the energy and strength was drained from her body. Her head was spinning as the magic pulsated through her veins.

Finally the black smoke began to disperse. The water in the well bubbled like it had reached boiling temperature but it slowly began to settle down. Regina caught a glimpse of her own reflection as she opened her eyes. She was exhausted but didn't take her eyes off the well until she knew for sure that her magic had done what she needed it to do.

"What the hell…"

She turned around at the sound of Emma's voice and found the blonde staring at her in a mixture of shock and horror. "What did you…. I mean… what the…."

Regina stepped away from the well and closer to Emma. Her heart sank when the other woman took several steps backwards into the snow, away from her. She heaved a sigh and her eyes fell shut. "It's magic," she answered. "And you and I have a lot to talk about."

"I am not talking to you, lady," Emma said sharply and pointed back at the well. Her voice was laced with both fear and anger. "Not until you tell me what that was and what you did."

"Magic," Regina said again. "Emma, I need you to come with me."

Emma started in Regina in disbelief. She had just seen the brunette do something she had never seen before. Magic was something that belonged in books. In fairy tales and Harry Potter. It had no place in this world. It wasn't normal. "I am going nowhere with you!"

"Emma, listen to me," Regina insisted, closing the distance between them and grabbing Emma's arm. The blonde tried to pull free but Regina wasn't going to let go. Their gazes locked and she suddenly stared into the emerald green eyes she had gotten to know so well. The eyes she had longed to see again the second she had arrived back in the Enchanted Forest. Her grip on Emma's arm loosened a little. "I need you to trust me."

"Trust you?!" Emma scoffed. "After what I've just seen you do?" She pulled away from Regina. "What the hell are you?"

Tears welled up in Regina's eyes but she fought them back. "A friend."

"You're no friend of mine." Emma's features hardened. "You're insane!"

"We can't stay here." Regina glanced back at the well. The smoke had stopped and the world around them looked peaceful and quiet once again. Above their heads the clouds began to disperse. Snowflakes started falling again. She looked back at Emma. "I promise I will explain everything to you but I need you to trust me." Her dark eyes continued to hold Emma's gaze and she held out her hand. "Trust me."

Emma hesitated. She didn't know this woman other than from seeing her since arriving in Storybrooke. She had just witnessed her doing something that wasn't even humanely possible but somehow, deep down, she trusted her. This was the woman she had seen in her dreams, the one who kept coming back to her and called her name and so she slowly reached out her hand and placed it in Regina's. The brunette's fingers closed over Emma's hand and she released her breath. Regina's hand was warm.

"Where are we going?" Emma wanted to know when Regina started walking away from the well. She followed her, never letting go of her hand. The warm tingling sensation spread through her fingers up to her wrist and eventually her arm.

"Somewhere safe."

Regina couldn't bring herself to look at Emma. She was holding her, keeping her safe from the evil that would soon descend on Storybrooke. She was doing everything she could not to be separated from her again and right now she didn't know if what she had done was enough.

When they reached Storybrooke, Regina immediately sensed something had changed. The streets were empty. A bag full of groceries had been dropped and abandoned on the sidewalk. The chilling wind numbed her bones as her dark eyes scanned their surroundings. She didn't hear voices or footsteps, nor the sound of engines. Storybrooke was covered in silence.

"What happened?" Emma breathed as she let her eyes drift around the quiet streets.

"Fear," Regina answered. She turned in the direction of Granny's diner. Shadows moved behind the windows and the hint of a smile spread across her face. "Come, I think I know where to go."

Emma didn't move and her hand slipped out of Regina's. "Wait!"

Regina froze but didn't look back.

"Henry was right, wasn't he?" Emma said quietly, fixing her green eyes on Regina's back. A lonely tear found its way down her cheek and she had never felt more lost in her life. She stood, almost forlorn, in the snow covered street. The world around her no longer seemed to be like it had once been. Nausea roared in her gut. "Everything he said about this place, the magic… It's true, isn't it?"

Regina slowly turned around and her eyes searched for Emma's. She didn't speak. She had no words. For the first time in her life, the Queen didn't know what to say. So she just stared. She stared at the woman who had broken the Curse once, who was the Savior. The woman she had hated when she first drove that damn ugly car of hers into town but whom she had learnt to like, even love. But she didn't see the Emma she had gotten to know. She saw a stranger.

Emma looked at Regina. They both seemed so lost, so trapped. She held Regina's gaze for as long as she could. It hurt to look at her even if she didn't know how or why. But there was one thing she did know. Something someone had told her a long time ago. Eyes were the entrance to the soul.

And those deep brown eyes that seemed to suck her in and keep her there were a mirror to every feeling Regina kept hidden deep inside and as Emma looked at Regina, really looked at her, she got it.

"The Queen," she said softly and Regina's eyes widened a little. "You're the Queen."

"Emma…" Regina's voice sounded broken. "Please…"

Emma took a hesitant step towards Regina. Something changed in her eyes as she looked at the brunette. "I just can't shake this feeling that I know you," she said softly. "Better than I think I do." She swallowed. "Have you ever met someone and just knew?"

Regina's breath hitched. "Just knew what?"

Before Emma could answer, the door to the diner behind them opened and Mary Margaret appeared. There was panic in her eyes and she called Regina's name but she froze in her tracks when she saw Emma standing in the snow. The words she had been about to speak died on the tip of her tongue as her eyes came to a rest on her daughter.

"Emma."

"Does everyone around here know who I am?" Emma sharply replied. Her eyes snapped from Mary Margaret back to Regina. "What's going on here?"

Regina felt herself slipping away. She didn't know what to do next or where to turn. Emma didn't remember her life here. She didn't remember who she was, who any of them were, and she didn't know if she could face telling her the truth about Storybrooke. But behind her stood Emma's mother, a woman who so desperately wanted to hold her daughter again and Regina was the only one who could give that to her. But to do that she had to face her own fear of rejection and she didn't know if she could. People had rejected her all her life. She couldn't face the thought of being lonely once again.

"We need to talk," Regina said softly and ignored Mary Margaret's sharp intake of breath behind her. She continued to hold Emma's gaze and took a small step in the blonde's direction. She relaxed when Emma didn't move away. "You and me."

"Yes, I think we do."

Regina turned around to Mary Margaret. "Go back inside. Granny knows what to do."

The other woman seemed confused. "But…"

"Do as I say," Regina commanded, her voice suddenly echoing her past as the Evil Queen.

Mary Margaret didn't protest and with a final sad, longing look at Emma she disappeared back inside the diner.

Emma's eyes narrowed. "Regina?"

"Yes?" The brunette slowly looked up.

"Talk to me."

Regina averted her eyes and stared at her feet covered in snow. The weight of the world rested on her shoulders like a heavy burden. For the first time she carried a responsibility; it was up to her now to protect this town and everybody in it. A long time ago all she had cared about was destroying all of them but now their lives were in her hands. They turned to her for safety, for shelter and for answers and she only had one way of giving those things to them; by facing herself.

"Henry was right, wasn't he?" Emma asked quietly.

Through her eyelashes Regina peered up at Emma. "I don't know how to do this."

"Do what?"

"This!" Regina made a helpless gesture. "Look at us!"

"Regina, I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Us," Regina whispered, tears now glistening in her eyes. "This."

Emma's eyes searched the brunette's face. It was so familiar and yet so distant and so strange. "There never was an 'us'."

"Because you don't remember."

"What?"

"A year ago, you came to this town," Regina began and watched as Emma furrowed her brow. "It was a dark, cold night in October. You drove that ugly car of yours right into my street and knocked on my door. I didn't know who you were but you came to return something to me. Something that meant more to me than anything else had ever done."

"And I let you in. I didn't want to but you left me no choice. You just barged right through every defence I had ever built and just wreaked havoc wherever you went. No regards for the rules, you were just your brazen self. But you changed something too, Emma. You changed this town. You changed its future." Brown eyes had lit up with hope. "You changed me."

Emma felt the back of her throat become dry. "So I do know you," she whispered.

"Better than you think." Regina's eyes now swam with tears and the lump in her throat was impossible to shift. It felt as if something had grabbed hold of her heart and was slowly twisting it inside her chest. "You know me, Miss Swan."

"My name is not…"

"Yes," Regina interjected as the first tears began to slide down her cheeks. "Yes, it is. Your name is Emma Swan."

"But…"

"The magic in this town is real," Regina continued. "It always has been and it always will be. But the magic also tells a story. A story we all know but you forgot. I didn't have a choice. I had to make you forget all of this, everything we once were, everything you once was. I had to. It was the only way." She reached out a tentative hand and let her fingers ghost across the palm of Emma's hand. "I had no choice."

"So you're saying I used to live here? In this town?" Emma asked and she let her eyes drift from the diner to the quiet street behind them and eventually back to Regina. "I was here?"

"Some people say that the things we lose have a way of finding their way back to us," Regina whispered. "It's one of the rules in our world. What we love the most always finds it way home eventually." She smiled though her tears. "Yes, you were here before. You walked these streets, recognised our faces. You laughed and you cried here. You fought here…"

"Fought?" Emma echoed. "What do you mean?"

"You're the Savior, Emma."

"Ok, now I know you're tripping," Emma rejected Regina's words and turned her head. "I don't know what all of you people have been smoking but I think its about time I leave this place."

She began to walk in the direction of her still snowed in Bug but was held back when Regina unexpectedly grabbed her arm. She spun around and found the brunette right behind her. Their gazes locked and suddenly it was as if the world disappeared underneath her feet. The wind whipped through her hair and numbed her fingers and froze her skin. The words she had wanted to shout at Regina to leave her alone died long before they even reached the tip of her tongue. For a moment there was nothing else but them and the world just stopped.

"I think you know you can't leave," Regina breathed, her fingers still closed around Emma's wrist. "If you could, you would have done it already. Something keeps you here."

"Where's my son?" Emma demanded. "Where's Henry?"

"Henry's safe," Regina replied. "And so are you."

"Safe? Safe from what?"

"You saw what happened when you threw that book into the well," Regina reminded her. "That action opened up a portal to another world and something was about to come through."

Emma's face changed into a mask of disgust. "Who are you?"

"I am the mirror that shows your shattered reflection." Regina heaved a sigh. "Emma, can't you see?"

"No," Emma sneered. "And I want you to leave me the hell alone."

"Don't you ever wonder why you stayed alive for all these years?" Regina shouted as Emma briskly walked towards the car. The blonde froze. "Don't you ever wonder what your dreams are trying to tell you? Don't you ever wonder how you could have been so lucky to end up in jail but still raise your son? The son you wanted to give up for adoption but chose to keep when you heard him cry for the first time?"

Emma slowly turned around. Her eyes were ablaze with anger. "There's a reason I've stayed alive all this time and against everything that's been thrown at me, and it sure as hell wasn't luck. It's because I worked damn hard to get where I am."

"And where is it you are, Emma?" Regina questioned. "Look around you. Something brought you here!"

"Why am I here?!" Emma shouted. The anger in her voice was unmistakable. "You keep telling me I came back here for a reason but I don't know what that reason is. I saw you, in my dream. I keep seeing you and I don't know why and it scares me."

"You know why you're here, Emma. Even if you can't remember, some things don't change!" Regina sounded desperate. "You know why you came back here!"

Emma didn't answer and instead turned away from Regina once again and closed the last few metres separating her from her car. She reached for the door to open it but was pulled back by two strong hands on her shoulders. Before she had a chance to speak or even blink, Regina had slammed her into the snow covered car. Fiery brown eyes pierced into green and she saw it.

The illusion had finally shattered. She didn't deserve a place in Emma's heart but yet she could see she was already there, breaking it into a million pieces. The pain that roared up in her own chest when she saw the torment in Emma's eyes made her release her grip on the blonde's shoulders and she went to take a step back. To her surprise Emma grabbed hold of both her hands and pulled her back.

Her lips tasted of tears mixed with snow and a hint of coffee.

When Emma finally pulled back, her head was spinning. She was afraid to open her eyes, scared of what she might find if she did. Her mind was a blur. She felt the cold wind against her face and shuddered when she became aware of warm fingers against her cheek. A touch so feather light that she almost believed she'd imagined it but when she opened her eyes and found Regina looking at her, Emma knew she hadn't.

The images in her head had all blurred together as they emerged from the darkness. Names, faces, voices… the memories slowly filled her head, one by one, faster and faster. They were all jumbled up but one stood out. Her green eyes found Regina's brown as she relived the moment they had said goodbye at the town line.

"I remember…."

Regina let a strand of Emma's hair slide through her fingers. "I'm sorry."

Emma's voice was thick and full of tears as she gently took hold of Regina's hand and. "You let us fall apart."

"I had to." Regina tasted the tears in the back of her throat. "I didn't have a choice."

Emma's eyes fluttered shut and she rested her forehead against Regina's as her arms slid around the brunette's waist. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Regina whispered into Emma's ear. "But you're back now and I am not going to let anything, or anyone, change that."


	13. Chapter 13

"Emma!"

The sound of Mary Margaret's voice calling out her daughter's name when she walked into the diner ripped through everybody's heart. Tears streamed down Mary Margaret's face as she locked her lost child in her arms again and Emma carefully rested her head on her mother's shoulder. The tears came without warning and Emma cried. Regina watched from the diner's doorway, tears glistening in her own eyes.

David, who stood next to his wife, slowly stepped aside and revealed an image Regina hadn't dared to believe she would ever see again. Henry stood next to his grandfather and his eyes lit up now that he saw Regina. He didn't wait for anyone to speak but just ran across the wooden floor and right into her open arms.

"Mom."

His voice got lost in her hair as she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her son against her chest. Silent tears dripped down her cheek and into his coat and Regina inhaled his scent. She could finally smell her son again and that alone made the agony from the past year worth it. The hurt and the pain slowly began to subside as she finally held her son again. She kissed the top of his head, squeezed his arms and patted his shoulders, all to make sure that it was really him.

"You've grown," she said when she finally held him at an arm's length and looked at him from head to toe. "You've gotten so big." Her eyes drifted back to Emma, a smile on her face. "What's she been feeding you?"

"Pancakes," Henry answered and he cocked his head. "Every day." He leant in a little. "But they're not as good as yours."

Regina ruffled her sons hair and let her eyes wander around the diner. Everybody was hugging Emma and she could see the happiness and the relief in their faces. The sound of laughter and cheers was music to her ears and when she briefly met Mary Margaret's eyes the younger woman mouthed a silent 'thank you' and Regina knew, right then, that even their darkest demons wouldn't be able to haunt them anymore.

But outside the diner lay danger and she knew they would sooner or later have to face it.

"It's good to have you back, Emma," Granny said. "It's been a long time."

"Too long," Emma replied and across the room her eyes found Regina's. "I'm just glad you guys never gave up."

"How could we?" Mary Margaret asked as she reached out a hand to both Emma and Regina. "We're a family."

"About that," Regina interjected and all eyes were suddenly on her. "We've got a problem."

"Elphaba?" Ruby asked and Regina nodded.

Emma furrowed her brow in confusion. "Who?"

"You probably know her as the Wicked Witch of the West," Regina explained. "She's been trying to get to Storybrooke ever since we returned. She's been causing a lot of trouble in the Enchanted Forest and we only managed to escape her curse because you partially broke yours."

Emma leant against one of the tables. "What do you mean, she's been causing trouble? I seem to remember the Wicked Witch living in Oz. I thought there was no way to travel between…" Her voice faltered as another memory came back to her. "Hook."

"Somehow he managed to sail the Jolly Roger between worlds," David answered. "When we found out he had sailed into your world, we sent Ariel to try and get your memory back. It seems that she succeeded where he failed. But Hook is also the one responsible for bringing Elphaba to our world."

"What's her story?" Emma asked, her eyes seeking out Regina. Somehow most stories always came back to her.

"My mother." Regina sounded bitter and she averted her eyes. She resented Cora's responsibility for this. Even after her death her mother continued to ruin her life. "She was responsible for Elphaba's greatest loss. She wanted Elphaba's magic because it was so much more powerful than her own but in doing so she murdered Elphaba's child. It was the day that evil was born."

"Can't say I blame her," Emma said. She looked from Mary Margaret to Regina and wondered if she was the only one who had spotted the similarities in the story between of Cora and Elphaba and the two of them. "But she stayed behind in the Enchanted Forest?"

"We escaped in time because you opened the portal," Regina explained. "You dropped the magical glass unicorn into the well." She smiled. "The glass was laced with powdered beans. It's what caused the magical shine. The glass acted the same way a bean would have done and opened up a portal to Storybrooke. It allowed us to return. I reinstated part of the Curse that allowed this town to exist and we came home."

"But Elphaba stayed behind."

Regina's teeth worried her bottom lip. "Sort of."

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?"

"What you saw earlier, in the well, was her magic," Regina answered. "She has found a way to weaken my magic and when you threw the book into the water, you caused a rupture in the protective bubble my magic has created." She watched as Emma's eyes filled with fear. "You didn't know, Emma. None of us did." She swallowed hard. "But my magic is weak. It will contain her for a little while but it won't be enough to keep her out of Storybrooke forever."

"So what do we do?" Leroy asked. "What do we need to do to keep that witch out of our town?"

"Find stronger magic," Regina answered quietly. "Find something that will help me fight her because if she comes through, I won't be able to defeat her."

"But I thought your magic was powerful?" Emma asked.

"Not powerful enough," Regina whispered and through her tears she looked up at Emma. "It will require all the strength I have. I can't use my magic to protect you anymore."

"So you're saying that if we don't find a way to strengthen your magic or find something more powerful, you'll die?" Emma's voice broke. "We'll all die?"

Regina nodded.

"I won't let you leave me," Emma said. The tears almost strangled her.

"We don't have a choice," Regina answered.

"No. I won't lose you. Not after we went through all of this to find each other again." She looked around the diner and saw the same determination in everybody else's eyes. She then looked back at Regina. She wasn't going to lose all of this again. She would fight with whatever she had to keep these pieces of her heart together. "What do we need to do?"

"We need you," Mary Margaret said and took her daughter's hand. "We need the Savior."

Emma stared at her mother, aghast. "What?"

"That's what Storybrooke needed from the beginning," David answered as he wrapped his arm protectively around Emma's shoulders. "We need you."

"I am not the Savior anymore," Emma said softly and looked down at her hands. She knew what these hands had done in the past but standing here, surrounded by her friends and family, it felt like a lifetime ago. Just like when the Curse first broke and she discovered who she was, remembering who she had been was just as terrifying. "I am just Emma. I don't know if that's enough."

"It will be," Mary Margaret encouraged her. "You'll find a way."

Emma swallowed the hard lump in the back of her throat. "This was once my home," she said softly. "But if we don't find a way to stop Elphaba then it won't be anything anymore."

"You're the Savior!" Henry said. The hope in his voice made Emma look up. He stood next to Regina, her hand on his shoulder. She saw the happiness in their eyes. She would do anything to keep them this happy. "You'll do it, mom!"

Something clicked inside her head. "We need Gold."

Regina heaved a sigh. "We don't have Gold."

"What?"

"He's gone," Belle said softly and she broke free from the crowd. "When he killed Pan, or his father, he just disappeared. We hoped we'd find him in the Enchanted Forest but he wasn't there. It was as if Rumpelstiltskin never even existed."

"He can't be dead, right?" Emma breathed. "I mean, come on! He's the Dark One! He can't die!"

"Everyone can die, Emma," David said. "Even Gold."

"So you really believe he's dead?" Emma's eyes found Belle. "Do you really believe that?"

"I haven't got a choice. If I keep the hope that he's alive, the pain will never go away." The younger woman looked down at the ground. "But sometimes I wonder…. It wouldn't have been the first time for him to do something nobody expects."

"Can we find him if he is alive?" Emma asked, her eyes searching for Regina's.

"Emma, we don't even know if he is alive," Regina said. "We can't afford to waste time looking for him. If Elphaba gets through that portal we will all go to hell."

"But if he's alive, can you find him?"

Regina felt her defences crumble. She could see Emma was desperate to find answers, to find a way to strengthen her magic. The thought of Gold had crossed her mind but she wasn't sure if it was a line she was prepared to cross. But not crossing it meant losing Emma. It meant losing everything. She didn't want that. Not again. Not after having lost her once already. She couldn't bear that pain.

"Ok." It rolled off her lips so quietly Emma could barely hear her. "I'll try."

Emma crossed the dinner and wrapped her arms around Regina's neck. Regina relaxed as her arms snuck around Emma's waist and pulled her closer. She buried her face in her blonde hair and for a moment she wished she could stay here forever and forget about the danger that lurked outside. This was their moment; the moment where they came home. She didn't want it to end.

"Emma," Regina barely whispered the blonde's name. She finally held her in her arms again. "My life, my entire existence, up until this point has been about stopping the heart beats of others. But now, all I can think about is keeping yours going."

"And you will," Emma whispered, tears burning behind her eyes. "What do you need me to do?" Her warm breath tickled the brunette's skin.

"Stay here," Regina answered, unwilling to let go of Emma. "Wait for me. I'll be back in an hour."

"Where will you go?"

"My vault." Regina's eyes fluttered shut when she felt Emma's slender fingers play with her hair. "It's the only place I can think of."

"Please be careful," Emma said as she pulled away. She cupped Regina's cheek and her fingers ghosted across the older woman's cheek. Their gazes locked and she leant in, tenderly pressing her lips against Regina's. The kiss was chaste.

Regina smiled, forcing her sadness to be locked away deep inside her chest. Her hands fell down her side and she turned around without speaking before starting for the door. She opened it and stepped out into the snow. The wind was bitter cold and took her breath away. Emma watched from the open doorway as Regina disappeared down the road.

"She'll find a way." Mary Margaret had appeared behind her daughter and put a hand on Emma's shoulder. "She's been trying for the last year to find you. She isn't going to give up now."

"Regina tried to find me?" Emma asked softly.

"From the moment we got back to the Enchanted Forest. That's how I knew."

"Knew what?"

"That she loves you."

Emma averted her eyes. She had loved Regina for a long time. Longer than she would have liked to admit to herself. She'd been angry with herself at first. She didn't understand how she could love a woman who hated her so much, a woman she herself hated in return. But something had changed as days turned into weeks and weeks faded into months. Regina had changed and Emma herself had changed too and somehow it allowed her to love Regina, see beyond the broken pieces of her heart and the darkness of her soul. She got to see the fragile and scared woman hiding behind the hardened mask of the Evil Queen and she saw the Regina she grew to love more and more. Because to her that was all she was; she wasn't the Evil Queen, she had always just been Regina.

"Emma," Mary Margaret said. "What's wrong?"

"I lost a year," Emma whispered. "I lost a whole year that I could have spent with you and David." The tears tasted salty in the back of her throat. "With Regina." She let her eyes wander around the diner. "I lived a different life, in New York, and you guys struggled to find your way home and I didn't even remember you!"

"You know that Regina had no choice but to do that," Mary Margaret said. "She wanted you and Henry to be happy. Henry wouldn't have been able to come with us to the Enchanted Forest. You know she did what was best for Henry, and for you. It took Regina a long time to understand that what she had done wasn't wrong. It hurt but it was the right thing to do because only that way did we have the hope you'd find us again. What happened change everything."

Emma blinked through her tears. "What do you mean?"

"In the end, what we all really want is to know that we made an impression, an indent on someone's life," said Mary Margaret, her eyes fixed on Emma. "We want to know we've been part of someone else's life, that we somehow helped them to become who they are. And you did that, Emma. You changed Regina's life."

Emma cradled her head in her hands. It seemed as if the world was suddenly spinning out of control. Her usually strong composure began to crumble. "I have no idea what the hell I'm doing."

"But you'll figure it out," Mary Margaret urged. "The same way you've figured everything else out up until this point. We all make mistakes but we learn from them. That's how we get on in life."

"If we really learned from our mistakes, I'd be a freaking genius by now." Emma shook her head. "We need to find a way to get to Gold if he still alive."

"If he is alive, he's not in this world," Ruby pointed out. "Which means he must be in one of the others."

"Others?" Emma asked. "How many others besides the Enchanted Forest and Neverland are there?"

"Oz and Wonderland," Granny answered. "Gold could have ended up in any one of them."

Emma looked at her family and friends. David, Mary Margaret and Henry and the others. An hour ago she had no idea who they were but now she remembered. She heaved a sigh. "So all we can do is wait for Regina and hope that her magic holds."

"Coffee on the house!" Granny said as she and Ruby disappeared into the kitchen.

People began to disperse and took their seats around the diner. Emma remained standing, letting her eyes drift across the familiar faces. She noticed there were more than a few missing. Faces she had gotten used to seeing were no longer here and she didn't know why.

Time passed slowly. It had been half an hour since Regina left and Emma paced the diner with her hands behind her back, a dark look in her eyes. She couldn't stop her brain from spinning but suddenly she stopped. When she met David's eyes she could tell he'd read her mind.

"I know what you're thinking," he said.

"Then you know it's the only logical thing to do."

David shook his head. "It'll kill you."

"It has worked before, it can work again!"

Mary Margaret took a step forward. "Exactly what are you thinking, Emma?"

"Me and Regina." Emma said, suddenly out of breath. "Our magic has saved Storybrooke before. Maybe it can save it again."

"Emma, if Regina thought that this would work she would have said something!" Mary Margaret answered.

"No, she wouldn't have," Emma said. "For the same reasons I wouldn't have if she were here. We both know that the other could get hurt." Her eyes found those of her mother. "You know why neither of us can do that."

"Emma…"

"It is our only chance. If we can't find Gold…"

The door to the diner opened and Regina appeared, a smile lingering on her lips. "We can."


	14. Chapter 14

“You can find him?”

Belle’s voice trembled as she took a step towards Regina. There was hope in her voice. Her eyes fixed on the dark haired woman walking into the diner. Emma could see the despair and the hurt behind the brunette’s eyes and realised Belle would be prepared to do anything to bring Gold back. True Love, no matter how unlikely, didn’t know any boundaries.

“I know where he is,” Regina said and she reached into her pocket. She took out a small silver orb that reminded Emma a bit of the snow globes that were sold on every street corner back in New York.

The globe fitted perfectly in the palm of Regina’s hand and the raven haired woman slowly let the fingers of her left hand dance across the glass. Emma and the others watched as inside the globe a cloud of purple smoke began to twirl. It pressed against the sides of the glass almost as if to seek an escape. The cloud grew bigger until it almost completely filled the orb and then it slowly began to disperse, revealing a bright lit centre.

There, against the bright background, Emma recognised the distinct features of Mr Gold. Her breath chocked in the back of her throat as beside her Belle covered her mouth with her hand and suppressed a sob.

“Where is he?” Emma wanted to know.

“The one place where he’d never thought he’d end up,” Regina said slowly and her dark eyes found Emma’s. “New York.”

“What?” Emma whispered. “How did he end up there?”

“I don’t know,” Regina admitted. “I don’t even know if he still remembers who he is or if he can still do magic.” Her dark eyes fixed on Belle. “But he’s alive and we can find him.”

She paused. “We have to find him. He’s our only chance against Elphaba. Only his magic can outdo mine. Together we’d be strong enough to defeat Elphaba.”

“Then we must go and get him,” Emma said. “We must get to New York and find him, bring him back.”

“What if he doesn’t remember us? He’s crossed the town line into the other world,” Ruby said. “What if Mr Gold doesn’t know he’s Rumpelstiltskin?”

“True Love’s kiss,” Emma reminded her. “People who are meant to be together somehow always find a way. It worked for Mary Margaret and David before the Curse was broken the first time.” Her eyes fixed on Belle. “And when you only remembered yourself as Lacey, you were still drawn to each other. The same way I was drawn to Regina without knowing it. True Love will help him remember.”

“But I can’t come with you,” Belle said softly. “I can’t cross the town line, remember?”

“Yes, you can,” Regina interjected and everybody looked at her. “When we returned d from the Enchanted Forest and I recreated Storybrooke, I changed the magic that used to bind us to this town. We used to one unable to leave but now we can move freely.” She smiled as she looked at Emma. “We can go wherever we want.”

Emma felt a jolt of excitement in her stomach but something was holding her back. “We have to wait for the snow to clear. We can’t drive through this and…”

Regina snapped her fingers, a sly smile lingering across her lips. “Done.”

When Emma looked out of the window she saw the streets were clear. The snow was gone. She looked back at Regina and shook her head. The hint of a smile broke through on her lips. “You really did make it snow to keep me here, didn’t you?”

Regina looked down at her feet as she felt a blush creep onto her cheeks. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“So what we do we do now?” David asked. “Do we go to New York to find Gold?”

“I’ll go,” Emma insisted. “I know the city.” She met David’s eyes. “No offence to any of you but you’ve never been anywhere other than Storybrooke or the Enchanted Forest. You don’t know anything about the city. New York isn’t exactly the kind of places where fairy tales come true.”

“I’m coning with you,” Regina said and Emma’s eyes snapped in her direction. “I won’t hear your arguments, Miss Swan.”

“What about us?” Mary Margaret wanted to know. “What can do we do?”

“Keep an eye on the well. Don’t let it out of your sight. If Elphaba tries to get through, do everything you can to stop her.” Regina looked around the diner. There had never been a moment like this; a moment where they all stood together as a family and fought for what they loved the most. They would have to be united if they wanted to have a chance.

“Can I come with you?” Henry asked and looked at both his mothers.

“Kid, I think it’s better if you stay here,” Emma said slowly. She could tell her son was disappointed but she had a gut feeling that her journey back to New York with Regina was going to be anything but straight forward. A single glance at Regina confirmed her instincts. “Stay with David and Mary Margaret.”

“But mom…”

“You heard her,” Regina said before Emma had a chance to reply. She met Emma’s gaze and could tell the blonde was impressed by her reaction. For the first time they formed a front as two parents. “You are to stay in Storybrooke.”

Henry realised he couldn’t argue with both his mothers and hung his head. David put a hand on his shoulder and said, “They’re right, Henry. I know you lived in New York but this isn’t going to be like going home.”

“What about Hook?” Granny asked. “That dodgy pirate is still out there somewhere.”

“I’ll sink his damned ship if he tries to thwart our plans.” Regina’s eyes darkened. She had never been a fan of Hook, ever since the time he joined sides with Cora, but she also knew of his feelings for Emma and his attempt to find her before they did. “He won’t be a problem.”

“We don’t have much time,” Emma said. “If we want to get to New York we need to go now. It’s going to take us hours to get there.”

“Miss Swan, you are not driving me to New York in that death trap you call a car,” Regina said and Emma’s eyes snapped up. She wasn’t sure whether to be more insulted by the fact Regina referred to her as Miss Swam or because she called her loyal yellow Bug a death trap. She was about to answer something in return when she noticed the glint in Regina’s eyes.

“Who would have guessed?” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and arched an eyebrow. “The Queen has a sense of humour.”

Regina didn’t respond to the joke. “There is a faster way of getting to New York than by car.”

Emma could only assume that Regina meant magic but didn’t ask. Instead she felt Mary Margaret’s arms around her neck and was pulled into the hug before she had time to think. Somewhat clumsily she wrapped her arms around her mother and held her tight. She’d only just remembered her parents and now she was on the brink of walking away from them again. But this time she knew she’d be back. She had to. She had to protect Storybrooke, protect her home.

They said their goodbyes to everyone before leaving the diner. It was odd not to walk out into the snow and Emma put a hand on Regina’s arm. It stopped the dark haired woman in her tracks and slowly she turned around. Their friends and family stood in the diner doorway. Emma could read the sadness and fear in their eyes.

“Take my hand,” Regina said softly.

Emma took Regina’s hand, lacing her fingers through Regina’s. Then Regina stepped closer to her and wrapped her arm securely around Emma’s waist. Their bodies were pressed tightly together and Emma could feel Regina’s warm breath against her face. Their gazes locked.

Regina’s eyes were light. Her lips brushed against Emma’s ear as she whispered, “Trust me.”

They were swallowed up by a large plume of purple smoke and when it cleared, they were gone.

~()~

Emma opened her eyes and found herself standing in the middle of Central Park. There was snow on the ground and on the tree branches and thick flakes fell from the sky. She turned to find Regina standing behind her, her dark eyes taking in their new and unfamiliar surroundings. A fine lawyer of snow had gathered on Regina’s shoulders and tangled in her hair. Emma reached out and brushed some of the snow away and Regina’s eyes found hers.

“It worked,” she said softly.

“Yes,” Emma breathed. She was taken in by the beauty of Regina against the backdrop of the pure white snow. “It did.”

“Do you know what day it is?” Regina whispered as she reached for Emma’s hand.

“Hmm?”

“Emma, its Christmas Eve.”

The blonde blinked. It hadn’t really hit her yet. “What?”

“It’s Christmas Eve,” Regina repeated as she looked at the snow falling from the sky. “I almost forgot.”

“We need to get off the streets,” Emma insisted. “We need a place to think and work out a plan. We can’t do that here out in the cold.” She began pulling Regina into the direction of one of the park’s many exists.

“Where are we going?” Regina wanted to know.

Emma reached into the pocket of her jeans and the keys jingled in her hand. “Home.”

She led Regina through the streets of New York and found her way effortlessly. They passed crowds of people marvelling over the Christmas decorations in shop windows and as they walked the snowflakes got bigger and the wind picked up, robbing Emma and Regina of their breath. Emma’s face and hands were cold but she carried on walking.

“Can you make it stop?” she asked when she and Regina reached another corner and waited for the traffic light to stop. Regina had just wiped snow out of her eyes.  
“I didn’t start this storm!” Regina answered. “I can’t stop something I didn’t start.”

After another fifteen minutes they finally reached the apartment complex and Emma stuck the key into the lock of the front door. She ushered Regina inside, closed the door and then met the brunette’s eyes. “If we run into my neighbour, she’ll ask where Henry is. We’ll tell her that you’re family and he’s staying at yours. We just came to pick up the presents. The last thing we need is someone snooping around.”

Regina didn’t answer but just followed Emma up the flights of stairs to her apartment. She took in her new surroundings. This was the life she had created for Emma and Henry when they said goodbye a year ago. She wanted them to have a happy life, without demons lurking in the shadows. She’d managed that for almost a whole year but now that illusion had shattered.

Emma opened the door to her apartment and stepped aside to let Regina in. The dark haired woman filed past her into the apartment and let he eyes wander around. It was neat and tidy, apart from the pair of sneakers in the middle of the living room and a jacket draped haphazardly over the back of the couch. Regina’s eyes fixed on the Christmas tree in the corner and the pile of presents underneath and she turned to look at Emma.

“Did you do that?” she wanted to know.

Emma shook her head. “Henry did.” She took Regina’s hand when she saw the brunette’s face fell. Regina had missed a year of her son’s life and nothing they would do from here on could change that. “Come. I’ll show you his room.”

She led Regina across the hall to Henry’s room and silently wished to herself that her son hadn’t left it in its usual pig sty state. When she opened the door she was relieved to see he had at least bothered to make his bed before they left. The pile of dirty laundry on the floor only confirmed that he really was her son. His school books lay scattered around his desk. Posters of pop bands adorned the walls.

“He was happy here,” Regina said softly and she felt the tears well up in her eyes.

“Because you made him happy,” Emma said as she put a hand on Regina’s shoulder and gently let a strand of hair run through her fingers. “You gave him this happy life when we said goodbye. He has all this because of you.”

“All I ever wanted was for him to be happy.” Regina’s eyes found Emma’s. “And for you to be happy.”

Emma smiled and cupped Regina’s cheek. Slowly she leant in and pressed her lips softly against Regina’s “I am happy.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Emma gently pulled Regina in for a hug and kissed the top of her hair. She didn’t want to let her go. Not now, not ever. When this was over they would find their own happiness. They would make it work. The dark times were behind them now and they had a chance at a future. She wasn’t going to let that slip away because some evil, wicked witch was trying to destroy them. This was her life, her new life, and she wanted to live it with Regina.

When they eventually parted Emma looked at Regina. “So how do we find Gold?”

Regina took the small globe out of her pocket and turned it around. It came back to live and Emma recognised Gold’s face in the purple smoke.

“This globe works like a mirror,” Regina explained. “Rumpelstiltskin gave it to me a long time ago, when he first taught me magic. It allowed him to see me as I practiced.” She wrinkled her nose. “I guess he was trying to make sure I was putting my powers to good use.”

“So you’re saying there’s another one of these?”

“Not exactly. Rumpelstiltskin’s mirror is a mirror. A hand held one, made out of the purest silver. It is unbreakable and will show you anything or anyone in the world if you want. But the mirror doesn’t just work as a two way system. It allows one person to watch another even if they are not using their mirror.” Regina inspected the globe more closely. “It seems Gold isn’t using his but he has got it.”

“He’s got it? How would he have gotten it if he never…” Emma’s voice faltered. “We left him with Pan in his shop. So when Pan escaped, Gold must have picked up the mirror before he killed him.” Her green eyes found Regina’s. “He knew he was going to die.”

“And he also knew that I would need it to find him in case he didn’t make it back,” Regina added and her grip on the globe tightened. “The little imp…”

“So how do we find the mirror?” Emma heaved a sigh. “There are millions of people in this city. How am I going to find one man if I don’t know where to stand?”

Regina’s eyes found Emma’s and she smirked. “You used to find people for a living, Emma,” she pointed out and Emma’s eyes lit up. “I’m sure you can find him.”

Emma smiled. “You’re right.” She snatched the glove out of Regina’s hand and planted it on the dining table. “And I think I know where to start.”


	15. Chapter 15

Regina looked around the apartment. The Christmas tree was the living room's most striking feature. Darkness had begun to fall outside in the last hour and snowflakes continued to fall from the sky. Emma had switched on the lights in the tree before excusing herself to get changed. It left Regina alone in the living room, allowing her to take in the feeling of the life Emma and Henry had lived here in the year they had been apart.

After a few minutes Regina turned away from the tree and the stash of presents still lying underneath it and followed the stumbling sounds coming from Emma's bedroom. When she entered the hallway she noticed the bedroom door was ajar. She came closer, every step a little more hesitant than the one before. When she reached the door her breath died in the back of her throat.

Emma stood next to the bed, her back turned towards the door. She'd taken off the shirt she'd been wearing and it had landed in a messy heap at her feet. The contrast of the black bra against the pale flesh of her skin was sharp and Regina's breath hitched as she let her eyes wander over Emma's slender frame.

The curve of her waist and the way her lower back seemed a little arched just seemed perfect. Emma had brushed her blonde locks aside, revealing the pure flesh of her shoulders and neck and as she leaned over the bed to pick up something, Regina's eyes were drawn to the way the fabric of her jeans clung to Emma's hips. It was only now that the blonde leaned forward and the remainder of her hair fell away that Regina noticed one particular distinguished feature.

"Tinkerbell was wrong."

She betrayed her presence by speaking and Emma spun around, her cheeks instantly flushing red when she realised she was only partially dressed. She discovered Regina standing in the bedroom door, something indescribable flickering in her brown eyes.

Emma stared at Regina in surprise. "What did you say?"

"Tinkerbell was wrong," Regina repeated and she pushed the door open further before stepping into the room. She crossed the space until she reached Emma and put a warm hand on her bare shoulder, gently urging the blonde to turn back around.

Emma did what Regina wanted and shivered when she felt the brunette's fingers lace through her hair before gently pushing it aside, revealing her shoulder. She bit down on her bottom lip when Regina's fingers circled the spot she'd been looking for and the hairs in the back of Emma's neck stood up. The touch stirred something deep inside of her she couldn't put into words. When she felt Regina's other hand come to a rest just above the waistband of her jeans, she stifled a moan.

"The one with the lion tattoo is my true love," Regina mused softly as she followed the lines of the drawing on Emma's shoulder. "For a long time I believed I knew who she was talking about. She said it was him. The one they call the Prince of Thieves." She looked down at the black and grey tattoo that adorned Emma's shoulder. It was a lion's head, its manes distinct and proud. "Now I know she was wrong."

Slowly Emma turned around and their gazes locked. "You mean…"

"True Love's kiss broke the Curse," Regina smiled as she brushed a strand of hair out of Emma's eyes. "I don't know if there was anything else I needed but now…" Her index finger slowly slid the bra strap down Emma's shoulder and her eyes darkened several shades as she looked back up. "Now I know for sure. You are my true love, Emma Swan."

Regina's other hand lowered the other bra strap and without breaking eye contact she reached around Emma's back before slowly unhooking the piece of fabric. She let her fingers slide across Emma's sides as the bra fell away from her skin and just before it hit the floor her lips found Emma's and they came together in a searing kiss.

Emma stumbled backwards and landed on her back on the bed. She looked up at Regina above her and smiled when she saw the lust burning behind those dark eyes. She pulled her closer and let her hands slide underneath Regina's skin. She moved in for another kiss just as he felt Regina's fingers play with the button on her jeans.

"I'm sure Gold won't notice if we're a few hours late…"

~()~

She woke to the feeling of a warm body draped across her own and slowly her eyes opened. The room was shrouded in darkness other than the yellow light from the streetlamp falling across the floor. The curtains weren't drawn, inviting the light right in.

Emma turned her head. The light fell across Regina's face, highlighting her beautiful sleeping features. For the first time Emma got to see Regina without the mask she wore to protect herself. There she was, pure and bare, for Emma to see. She let her eyes trail over Regina's face, taking in every tiny feature. This was the image she wanted to remember for the rest of her life; Regina Mills asleep in her arms.

The neon numbers on the alarm clock told her it was 2.07 in the morning and daybreak was still hours away. Once it was light they would start their journey for Gold here in New York but right now, in this precious moment, Emma just wanted to remember and cherish this frozen fragment of time, where it was just the two of them and their troubles were so far gone she could almost believe they didn't exist. The wait had been long but in this moment, it was worth it.

"It's rude to stare," Regina grumbled as she lazily opened her eyes. She flexed her fingers across Emma's abdomen.

Emma buried her face in a mess of black hair and smiled. "It's rude to pretend you're asleep when you're not."

"Hmm." Regina didn't really speak. She merely moved even closer to Emma, although Emma didn't think this was even possible, and continued to draw circles around Emma's belly button. Her grip on the blonde's body didn't lessen.

"I love you."

Emma's whispered words almost sounded lost in the silence and the darkness of the room but they reached Regina anyway.

"I love you too."

The words ended up somewhere between Emma's ear and her hair but she smiled, knowing that Regina meant it. She heaved a sigh and felt the tiredness settle in her chest, her head and her eyes. She pulled the bedcovers up a little more and rested her head against Regina's body. Her eyes slowly fell shut.

"Please don't ever let this moment end."

~()~

When she woke again it was light and the bed was empty. Emma sat up with a jolt and let her eyes drift around the bedroom. It was quiet in the apartment and a quick glance at the floor told her that most of Regina's clothes were still there. Her lips curled up into a smile and she found her underwear and an old Jets jersey before padding out of the bedroom and into the living room. She froze just before walking in.

Regina stood by the window, dressed only in her panties and the shirt Emma had worn the night before. She clutched a steaming cup of coffee and her black hair was a tangled mess. Against the backdrop of the morning sky and the snow glistening on the rooftops she looked like the most stunning and beautiful thing Emma had ever seen.

"Merry Christmas."

Regina looked up when she heard Emma's voice. "Merry Christmas."

"What are you doing up?" Emma wanted to know as she walked into the living room and planted a kiss on Regina's shoulder.

"I was just thinking," Regina answered quietly. "About the best way to find Gold. About a way to get him back to Storybrooke, a way to give him back his memories and save Storybrooke from Elphaba's magic."

"Isn't there some kind of magic you can use?" Emma asked as she climbed into the window sill and pulled her legs up to her chest.

"There is a potion but I don't have the ingredients to make it," Regina replied. "But Gold does. I don't doubt that he has at least got one bottle in his shop." Her eyes found Emma's and she smiled at the sight of the blonde watching her. "I could get used to this."

Emma felt herself blush. "Me too."

A knock on the door startled both of them and Emma's head snapped around. She cursed under her breath as she slipped out of the window sill and padded across the living room to the door. She peered through the spyhole and swore again.

"Who is it?"

Regina had appeared behind her.

"My neighbour, Rachel. She would sometimes keep an eye on Henry if I was out for work. She's my friend."

Regina looked down at her bare legs and arched an eyebrow. "She isn't going to believe I'm family when she sees you like this, Emma."

"I know that!" Emma hissed. "I'll think of something."

Regina smirked and leant against the wall. "I can't wait to hear it."

Emma counted to ten and opened the door. As it swung open it revealed Rachel standing outside, a smile from ear to hear and clad in her winter coat. In her hand she held a bag and her eyes lit up when she saw Emma.

"I thought I heard your voice in the corridor last night!" she beamed. "I thought you were supposed to be in Maine?"

"I was," Emma stammered. "But we forgot some things so we came back last night. We will be heading back in an hour or so."

"We?" Rachel asked. She peered past Emma and noticed Regina standing a few steps behind her. She looked back at Emma in confusion. "Oh."

"Regina's… a friend," Emma quickly said and hoped, prayed, that Rachel wouldn't make a comment about her appearance. It didn't take a genius to figure out what exactly had happened here. "She drove me up here. My Bug died in the snowstorm."

"I see," Rachel said and the hint of a smile played across her lips. "I just came by to drop these off. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Emma replied and took the bag. "Thank you."

"Well, I'll leave you two to get ready for the journey back," Rachel commented and she turned around. Once she had disappeared from sight Emma slammed the door and dropped the bag with presents at her feet.

"You positively made a fool of yourself, dear," Regina pointed out.

Emma peered up at Regina through her eyelashes. "I know."

Still smiling Regina turned around and disappeared into the direction of the bathroom. A few moments later Emma heard the water being switched on and she heaved a sigh as she dropped the presents Rachel had given her on the couch before making her way to the bedroom. She opened her wardrobe and rummaged around for something to wear. She took out a second set of clothes she hoped would fit Regina and left them on the bed.

She then grabbed the tablet that lay on her bedside table, opened up the Google search engine, typed in "Mr Gold Pawn Shop New York" and hit search. She waited anxiously to see if her instincts had proven her right and her eyes lit up when one of the top results gave her the answer she had been looking for. You could take a man out of the shop, but you couldn't take the shop out of the man.

She opened the link and found the address at the bottom of the page. She scribbled it down on a piece of paper and then read through the remainder of the website. It appeared to have been set up to make it sound like the shop sold antiques and to her surprise she saw a familiar face in the picture in the top right corner. Mr Gold, his smile as sly as ever, looked back at her.

"Emma?" Regina called from the other side of the apartment.

"In here!"

Emma put down the tablet and looked up just as Regina walked in, wrapped up in only a towel. Instantly her heart skipped a beat and her throat became dry. Drops of water still glistened on Regina's skin.

"I errr… I left you some clothes," Emma clumsily said and stood up. "I'll go grab a shower."

Regina smiled as the blonde walked out of the bedroom and then looked at the clothes Emma had left out for her. It wasn't exactly something she would have chosen herself but she didn't expect Emma to have a designer dress hanging in her wardrobe. She would settle for the black skinny jeans and simple sweater.

Twenty minutes later Emma had showered and gotten dressed and she and Regina stood in the kitchen looking at the website Emma had found.

"It is our only chance," Emma said slowly. "We need to bring him back to Storybrooke."

"What do you suggest?" Regina asked and Emma's eyes lit up.

"I think I know." She put the tablet down and looked around the apartment. It was strange being here on Christmas Day without Henry. She would have to make it up to him somehow. She looked back at Regina. "Come on."

Together they left the apartment and Emma made sure to lock the door behind her. She huddled a little deeper into her coat and watched Regina fumble with her gloves and scarf. Seeing her in the skinny jeans and sweater she gave her had made her feel warm inside and now that wrapped up warm in Emma's scarf, that feeling didn't show signs of stopping.

Together they left the apartment building and Emma hailed a cab. The driver pulled up along the kerb and Emma held the door so Regina could climb into the back. She then joined her and gave the address she'd found on the website to the driver. She sat back as he started the engine and her hand searched for Regina's.

"Everything's going to be fine," she promised.

Outside the cab window New York City flashed by. Thousands of Christmas lights flickered behind the windows and the snow lay inches thick on the sidewalk. Emma watched Regina take in the sight. There was something magical about this city at Christmas time and Emma saw how, for perhaps the first time, the wonder of this world was etched across Regina's face.

When the cab eventually pulled up outside a building in the middle of Chelsea, Emma got out of the car first and held the door for Regina. She paid the driver and waited until he was gone before turning towards the building across the street. The sigh above the display window was unmistakable. In big, bold letters it said Gold's Antiques.

"You ready?" Emma said as she cast a sideways glance at Regina. The brunette seemed nervous.

"As I'll ever be."

With their hands linked they crossed the street and Emma pushed against the door. A bell chimed, not unlike the one that hung above Gold's door in Storybrooke. Inside the shop was brighter than she had imagined. She was used to Gold's lair being dark and dingy but this shop was the opposite. It was bright and spacious, with glass display cabinets and solid wooden shelves.

A figure stood behind the counter, his back turned towards the door. The sound of their footsteps echoed across the solid wooden floor and Emma's heart hammered in her chest. She would have recognised the shape of the imp anywhere. When she looked at Regina she could see hope and fear in her eyes. Everything came down to this moment.

"Can I help you?" a familiar and distinct Scottish accent asked them.

"I think you can," Regina answered slowly but Emma squeeze her hand and she fell silent.

"Mr Gold," Emma said slowly and she could sense that something changed within the shop. It was as if a cold wind suddenly ruffled their hair. She heard the sound of pieces of glass coming together and from the corner of her eye she saw the mobile, the figures cut out of blue and white glass.

He still didn't turn around. "Do I know you?"

Emma stepped away from Regina and placed her hands flat on the counter. "My name is Emma Swan."

Slowly he turned around and his eyes met hers. She could see it. It happened, there and then.

"And I know you remember me."


	16. Chapter 16

Something changed in his face. It was as if the fog behind his eyes was slowly cleared and a spark returned that had been absent until the moment she spoke her name. Emma had placed her hands flat on the counter and never took her eyes of Gold. The longer she looked at him, the more she recognised the man she had come here to find.

There seemed to be little confusion on his part. "Miss Swan," he said, speaking her name clearly. "We meet again."

"Indeed we do," Emma said and the hint of a smile danced across her lips. "How much do you remember?"

"More importantly, how do you remember?" Regina wanted to know. She looked from Emma to Gold and back. Something began to dawn on her. "Hang on…"

"The name," Gold reminded her and he knew Regina understood. They looked at each other, silently sizing the other up in a bid to figure out if they could trust one another. "It's how I remembered the first time, Your Majesty. You don't think I would give up on such a precious piece of magic, hmm?" He cocked his head. "I must admit though that Miss Swan would be the last person I expected to find in your company."

"Things have changed," was all Regina said. "I'm sure you'll understand soon enough."

Emma looked from Gold to Regina and back. The atmosphere in the shop had changed now that these two once enemies looked each other in the eye. She took a deep breath and leant in.

"Listen, we don't have time for chit chat," she said sharply. "We need to get to Storybrooke before Elphaba does or all hell is going to break loose."

"Elphaba?" Gold questioned. "She's the one behind all this?"

"You don't seem surprised," Regina noted and arched an eyebrow. "Care to share?"

"Other than myself and the formidable Queen here, I could only think of one other person who possesses both enough magic and hatred to be capable of this," Gold said slowly. "After all, it was she who sent me here."

"Elphaba sent you to New York?" Emma sounded surprised. "She didn't realise that this was where Regina had sent me. I could have walked in here and helped you remember the moment I spoke my name."

Regina shook her head. "No, dear," she reminded her. "When you lived here, your name wasn't Emma Swan." She looked back at Gold. "Somehow Elphaba must have known you'd never be able to break that part of the spell even if your paths had crossed. But she did put the little imp right under your nose."

"It doesn't matter for now," Gold said and he circled the counter before taking his coat of a hook that hung near the door. He slipped it on and opened the door. "What matters now is what we stop whatever it is she's trying to do."

"And you know how?" Emma asked as she followed Gold out into the bitter winter wind that blistered their faces and he turned around. A sly smile graced his lips.

"Of course," he said and for a moment she recognised Rumpelstiltskin instead of Gold. "Who do you think taught her what she knows?"

"I should have known you were responsible for this," Regina muttered under her breath as she and Emma followed Gold out of the shop and into the blistering cold New York winter. She said it so softly only Emma heard her.

Gold walked ahead of them and they didn't know where they were going. Emma did her best to keep up with him, cutting herself a way through the crowded sidewalk whilst glancing back at Regina walking behind her every few seconds. She could tell the brunette was struggling with the sounds and crowds of the city and Emma slowed down so Regina could catch up. It was one thing moving from a fairytale land to a small town in the middle of nowhere in Maine. It was another to find yourself lost in a city like New York.

"Can we trust him?" Emma asked when Regina reached her. "I mean, doesn't it strike you as odd that the moment we walk into his shop, he remembers? And he just comes with us?"

Regina watched the figure of Gold grow smaller in the distance. "I understand," she answered. "You know what they say about things that seem too good to be true, right?" Dark brown eyes found Emma's emerald ones. "But if I believed that things that seem too good to be true are too good to be true then you and I wouldn't be here right now." Her hand found Emma's. "You're the one who can pick out the bad guys, Emma. I trust you."

"Right now he is out only chance of defeating Elphaba," Emma said slowly. "Even if it seems too good to be true, Gold is all we've got."

"Ok," Regina smiled and her hand fell away. "Let's go."

They started walking again and increased their pace until they had caught up with Gold. He didn't seem to have noticed their short absence and didn't look up when the two women appeared at either side of him.

"Where are we going?" Emma wanted to know. "Isn't everything you need in your shop?"

"Not in this shop," Gold said but paused when he saw Regina retrieve the globe from her pocket. He recognised it for what it was before she spoke. "The mirror."

Regina nodded. "You don't need it's counterpart?"

"Not for what we're about to do," Gold answered.

Emma frowned. "And what is that exactly?"

Gold's eyes darkened as a manic expression that could easily be mistaken for excitement appeared across his face. "Get a bucket of water and watch that witch burn."

~()~

They relied on Regina to get them back to Storybrooke but finding a quiet place in a vibrant city like New York wasn't as easy as Emma thought it would be. Three people grouped together awkwardly close in Central Park drew enough attention as it was without even trying to use magic. It wasn't until Regina finally found a quiet space amongst the trees, far away from the nearest path for joggers and dog walkers, that they got a chance to link hands.

Emma's heart pounded in her throat as she watched the snow beneath her feet slowly disappear. She grabbed a firm hold of Regina's hand and just before the purple smoke swallowed them up she caught a glimpse of the brunette's eyes and recognised the flicker of hope. For the first time Emma realised that Regina was afraid for what might happen if they didn't defeat Elphaba. They would pay the price for a crime Cora committed and the torture inflicted on them would be unlike anything they had experienced before.

When she reopened her eyes she could smell the forest. In the distance a bird sang a soft, lament song and Emma looked down at her hand still linked with Regina's. When she turned her head she found that Gold had already broken away and was walking towards the well. It appeared that Regina's magic had held.

"What do we do?" Regina asked. Her voice trembled. "This magic will last for another hour at most. When this protective spell breaks..."

"Wickedness will come to Storybrooke," Gold finished the Queen's sentence. He turned around to Regina. "I may not be able to stop this."

Emma stared him, astounded. "WHAT?!"

"There isn't enough time. Regina's defences are too weak. Elphaba has already made her way through. It's only a matter of time." Gold straightened his spine and looked at Regina. "We can fight her when she gets here. This defence will buy us some precious time but it won't be enough."

Emma ran her hands through her hair. "I seem to remember that all Dorothy did was throw a bucket of water in the book," she said slowly. "Please tell me there's some kind of truth in that story." Desperate eyes snapped from Regina to Gold and back. "I know this isn't Oz but it sure as hell ain't Kansas either. We must be able to do something!"

"I can cast a protective spell over the most important places in Storybrooke," Regina suggested. "The Charming's place, my house, the diner…" She looked at Gold. "Your shop." Gold nodded. "Elphaba will be able to get into Storybrooke but she won't be able to get to any of those places. It buys us more time and a place to work."

Emma put a hand on Regina's arm. "Let's go," she said. "We have to find Henry at the others." She glanced back at Gold. "We'll meet you at your shop in half an hour."

They parted ways and Regina and Emma silently walked through the forest back into Storybrooke. As they walked Regina reached for Emma's hand and the blonde looked at their fingers being linked together. It felt so familiar and so warm. It was hard to imagine they had been apart for a year, or even longer if she took into account the moments before their separation.

"We'll find a way," Regina tried to reassure Emma. She noticed the worry etched across the blonde's face. "And even if we don't… it's me she's looking for. I am the last thing remaining that ties her to Cora."

Emma's eyes were suddenly ablaze with fire. "Don't you dare," she snapped. "Don't you dare sacrifice yourself for the rest of us." She stopped walking and took Regina's hands into her own. "Don't you are think you can let yourself die so that we can live."

"Emma…"

"No." Her answer was final. "I can't let that happen." Green eyes softened a little. "I only just found you again. I can't lose you, Regina."

Regina tried to smile but the sadness she felt inside almost made it impossible. "Then we'd better do everything we can to make sure it doesn't come to that."

They carried on until they reached the diner. Just as Emma had expected, all their friends had gathered inside. Before they entered Regina cast a protective spell that created a magical bubble around the diner, protecting it from harm. She and Emma then went inside and the blonde's eyes singled out the brunette sitting at the bar. Belle looked up when they walked in.

"He's alive," Emma said softly and Belle's eyes welled up with tears. "He's in his shop and I'm sure he'd love to see you."

"Go," Snow encouraged her, putting a hand on her shoulder as Belle slipped off the bar stool.

Once Belle was gone, the rest of the group formed a circle around Emma and Regina and Emma, after hugging Henry and ruffling his hair, told them what happened in New York. When she reached the point where they returned to Storybrooke and saw the well, her breath hitched and Regina took over.

"Gold thinks it may be too late to prevent Elphaba from coming through," she said slowly. "But he believes we can fight her once she's here."

"Do you believe him?" David asked.

"We have to," Emma answered. She understood her father's suspicion. Working alongside Gold was never without consequences. "He says he knows her magic because he's the one who gave it to her. Maybe that means he can take it away too."

"So what is our next move?" Ruby wanted to know.

"Regina will place protective spells on as many places as necessary, so we have places to hide and work out our plans," Emma answered. "It may not be enough but it will buy as time while Gold works out a way to deal with Elphaba if Regina's magic isn't enough."

"Then we'd better get ready," David said and fixed his gaze on Regina. "I'll come with you." His hand had shot down to the gun strapped to his waist and she nodded in appreciation. "It's time to show this witch exactly what it is we're made of."

"Mom?" Henry asked once the group had started to disperse and Emma turned to look at her son.

"Yes, kid?"

"You're going to defeat her, right? You're the Savior."

"Yeah," Emma smiled but at that moment in time she had never been less sure of her chances of success. For the first time she felt like she was about to fail her son as a mother. She would let him down if she couldn't defeat Elphaba and she knew she wasn't a match for the witch. Her magic was nowhere near as strong as Regina's.

Suddenly her eyes lit up. "Regina."

She turned on her heel and ran out of the diner. She glanced down the street and saw Regina and David walk towards the apartment David shared with Mary Margaret. Emma started a short sprint and reached them within seconds. Regina looked up in surprise.

"Emma?"

"Remember that time, in the mine, when you wanted to destroy that diamond, the one that would destroy Storybrooke?" Emma was out of breath but managed to get her words out in the correct order.

Regina's eyes narrowed. "Yes."

"Do you remember what it was I said when you told me you knew you weren't going to make it on your own?"

"Emma, I don't know if that's going to work this time," Regina said slowly. "Besides, I don't want you risking your life…"

"For you?" Emma finished the brunette's sentence and took Regina's hands into her own. It didn't matter how many times she did this. It always felt like a perfect fit. "Regina, I love you. That alone is enough reason for me to want to risk my life." Green eyes found coffee coloured brown. "It might work. It worked before, more than once. We can do it again."

Regina didn't seem sure. "Emma…"

"What other choice do we have?" Emma asked her. "Magic is all we have. Yours and mine. Our best chance is together. Maybe you're not strong enough but maybe _we_ are."


	17. Chapter 17

Instead of going to the apartment, Regina and Emma diverted back to the forest. They didn't speak but along the way their hands found each other. Their fingers were linked and Emma glanced down. Seeing their unity like this and feeling the magic flow through her veins gave her the confidence that maybe they had a chance against Elphaba and they would be able to safe Storybrooke after all.

"You smell that?" Regina whispered when they reached the outskirts of the forest and she held still.

Emma's nose wrinkled. The smell was unpleasant, like sulphur. It made her eyes water and as she tried to focus on the rest of the journey ahead of them, she noticed that smoke surrounded them. "What is it?"

"A warning," Regina said menacingly and her grip on Emma's hand tightened. "Elphaba's about to come through. We may have even less time than I thought."

They walked through the green smoke, barely able to see where they were going. It filled their lungs and robbed them of precious oxygen. Regina tried using her magic to cut them a path through the ever denser darkness but her powers struggled. Tears streamed down her face as her eyes burnt and when she looked beside her, the only confirmation she had that Emma was still there was the feeling of the blonde's hand in hers.

"Not much further now," Emma coughed. She gagged as more of the smoke coiled its way into her body. Her head was pounding and she had no idea how they were going to see when they finally reached the well. It seemed that with every step they took, the smoke became stronger and thicker. The horrific smell and the pressure inside her lungs made her feel sick.

"There!" Regina pointed through the smoke at a clearing.

She could make out the shape of the well. The green smoke continued to pour from its depths but it seemed to circle around the well, leaving an open space around it. It wasn't big but it was big enough for two people to stand around.

Stepping out of the smoke into the clearing was a relief and Emma desperately took several deep breaths in an attempt to fill her lungs. She looked at Regina beside her. Dark strands of hair clung to the brunette's forehead and her eyes were red and swollen. Tears still streamed down her face and Emma could only assume she looked as bad Regina did.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Emma hesitantly asked when Regina took a step closer to the well and attempted to peer down into the darkness below.

"No," Regina deadpanned. "But it's the only idea I've got."

"What does it look like?"

"Like the magic is about to break and all hell is going to break loose." Regina looked at Emma. "We're out of time."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Elphaba has made her way through most of the magical protection spell. It will be a matter of minutes before the whole thing collapses." Regina took a step back and rolled up her sleeves. "We need to be ready."

The words had barely rolled of the Queen's tongue when the ground beneath their feet began to shake. A low rumbling noise rose up and Emma grabbed hold of Regina's shoulder in an attempt not to lose her balance. In the distance she heard the sound of a tree falling over. When she looked down she noticed deep cracks appearing beneath her boots and she jumped aside, pushing Regina down to the floor just as the ground ripped open.

"Jesus!" Emma cussed and she scrambled back to her feet before reaching out a hand to Regina and helping her up. Their gazes locked. "What the hell…"

"Elphaba," Regina whispered. The ground was still shaking and more, smaller, cracks appeared. The one where Emma had stood mere moments ago was big enough to have swallowed both of them up. "She isn't just opening the portal, she's ripping it apart!"

"EMMA! REGINA!"

Over the thundering sound of the Earth still shaking beneath their feet they recognised the voices of David and Mary Margaret. Their figures appeared in the smoke, arms shielding their faces. A third figure was right behind them and the shape of Gold appeared mere seconds after the other two had broken through the smoke. When Emma met his gaze she instantly knew; they were too late.

"We're ok," Regina said when Mary Margaret put a hand on her arm. "For now, anyway."

David looked at the well. Some of the bricks had started to break and crumble. "What can we do?"

"All we can do is wait," Gold answered. "If she comes through we have to use all our magic to contain her here. Nothing else will do." He swallowed. "We have to force her back through the portal and close it."

"Close it?!" Regina's head snapped around.

Gold's eyes found Regina's. "For good. After today, there will be no way of ever going back to the Enchanted Forest. We have to destroy the portal. It is our only chance. If we leave it open, she'll come back. We don't have a choice."

"But what if we fail?" Mary Margaret asked. "What if the magic doesn't push her back?"

"Then Storybrooke will be lost," Gold answered. The echo in his voice was hollow. They had brought him back only moments earlier and now he was at the verge of losing everything he had only just remembered. The woman he loved and the life they could have here. The philosophical side of him wanted to believe that everything happened for a reason but the pessimistic side of him was more likely to accept that fate and destiny weren't set in stone; they all lay in their own hands and it was up to them to shape and create it.

"You can never truly accept something until it happens," he said, looking at the brunette with the pixie haircut. "Only when we face what is right in front of us can we accept our fate."

"Gold is right," Emma decided. "We can't give up now. We've come this far. I made my way back here for a reason. Because this… this is where is where I belong. In Storybrooke. This is my home, my family." Dark green eyes lingered for a moment on the faces of her parents before shifting to Regina.

"I am here because of you, Regina. Because there is only one person in my life who completes me, who makes me better and makes me whole. I would do anything to save you and I will. Even when I didn't remember you, you pulled me closer to you every single day. I didn't know your name but I saw your face. That is what brought me here. Not my love for you but your love for me."

Regina opened her mouth to speak but her words were robbed by the deafening sound of the well exploding. The sheer force knocked her backwards and she fell onto her back. Instinctively she rolled onto her side and reached out for Emma. Protective arms snaked around the blonde and she pulled her closer, using her body as a shield to protect her from the falling debris.

It was Emma who gently pushed her aside and in that moment their eyes found each other. Black dust covered part of Regina's face and blood trickled from a small cut on Emma's cheek but a quick check of her arms and legs told her everything was still there and still working. Slowly they got back onto their feet, just as Mary Margaret and David did the same.

"Where's Gold?" Regina rasped. Her voice was thick from the smothering smoke and dust.

"There!" David pointed at the remains of the well. "He's at the edge!"

Regina's eyes narrowed as she got hold of Emma's arm and led her towards what was left of the wishing well. The sickening scent of sulphur was overpowering and she fought against the bile rising up in her throat. Her grip on Emma's arm tightened the close they came to the edge.

"She's coming."

Gold turned to look at her and shook his head. "She's here."

Regina slowly looked up and focused on a faint outline of a woman's figure on the other side of the well. The smoke slowly began to clear and Regina's heart skipped a beat as the woman's face became visible. Green, like the smoke that circled around her, with steel blue eyes and blonde hair tied back into a bun. She was clad in a black dress that fell loosely around her tall and slender frame. Long nails, painted in the shade of blood, adorned her fingers and a crooked, devious smile lingered across lips that matched the colour of her nails. She cocked her head.

"Hello, Rumple." Her voice was sickly sweet. "Long time no see."

"Could have done with a little longer," Gold snapped back.

"Tut, tut, is that the way you speak to your old friends?" Elphaba asked. Her gaze then drifted from him to Regina. The glimmer of amusement that had lingered behind her ice cold eyes faded and was replaced by the bitterness of hatred. "Regina."

"I don't believe we've met," Regina answered stoically.

"Oh but our fates are intertwined," Elphaba replied. It was followed by a high pitched giggle. "You see, I had the pleasure of meeting your mother, Cora. And she took something from me. Something rather valuable."

"Your child." Regina's face remained emotionless. "I don't see what my mother's actions have to do with me."

"Some sins are passed along through blood," Elphaba answered. "Cora is dead. You're not. You now carry the burden of her sins. She can't answer to them anymore. You can."

"Stop the talking and just tell me what it is you want," Regina bit back. She took a step sideways so that she was now standing in front of Emma. She sensed the blonde took a step closer to her but Regina reached behind her and pushed Emma backwards. Something about what Elphaba had said about paying for her mother's sins had alarmed her. "I haven't got all day."

"You've got all the time in the world," Elphaba replied. She still hadn't moved. She stood as if nailed to the ground at the edge of what was left of the wishing well, graciously, like a queen. "I came to collect a debt. Your mother took what I loved the most. The only thing that ever mattered to me. I realised not long ago that even if Cora had been alive there would have been nothing I could take from her that would make her hurt the way I have been hurt. Cora didn't love anything or anyone, other than power." She smirked. "She didn't even love you."

"None of this is new to me," Regina spat. "My mother cared about nothing else but herself and getting ahead in this world, or whatever world she was in. Everybody knows that."

"But you…" Elphaba took a slow step away from the edge and began circling the well, heading slowly in Regina's direction. "You, Regina, you do love. And you love deeply." She giggled. It had a haunting echo that seemed to linger long after it had stopped. "And I know who you love, Regina. What do you say? A heart for a heart?"

"Get away from me." Regina raised both her hands and the bright lightning bolts erupted, creating a barrier around her, Emma and the others. "If you think I'm going to let you near any of my family, you've thought wrong, lady. I am not my mother. I do not put myself first."

"Oh, nobody says you are Cora, my dear," Elphaba mused. "But everybody back in the Enchanted Forest spoke of the Queen's true love. The one she had to leave behind."

Regina lifted up her chin with pride. "If you heard those stories then you know there is a flaw in your plan."

"That there are two who hold your heart?" Elphaba asked and watched in amusement as the horror spread across Regina's face. "Oh, I know everything, Regina. I know there are too. Your son, Henry. And the Savior. Emma." She cocked her head a little and her cold eyes pierced into Regina's. "I am not completely without mercy, Regina. I came to claim one heart, not two. Now, shall I decide or will you?"

"What?!" Regina breathed. A cold feeling spread through her chest and she felt Emma's hand at the small of her back. "You want my son or Emma and you expect me to choose which one lives and which one dies? You're sick!"

Elphaba shrugged. "You have until midnight, Regina."

She vanished into a cloud of green smoke, leaving behind a deafening silence.

Emma slowly turned to Regina and put her hands on the brunette's shoulders. Regina was reluctant to meet Emma's eyes but Emma didn't give up and when she finally found Regina's dark brown eyes she noticed they swam with tears. Inside her chest she felt her own heart breaking at the sight of Regina's pain and silently Emma enveloped Regina into her arms and held her.

"We'll think of something," she promised as her fingers threaded Regina's hair. "We'll find a way, Regina."

Gold checked his pocket watch. "We don't have much time. Something tells me Elphaba won't give us an extension. We need to get back to Storybrooke and inform the others."

"Are we just going to leave her out there?" Mary Margaret asked. "What happened to shoving her back into that portal and locking it?"

"We don't have a choice. Until midnight she won't bother us," Gold answered and he put the watch away. His gaze lingered on Emma and Regina. To see the Queen so fragile was something he had never seen before. For the briefest of moments he was taken back to the moment where his path had first crossed Regina's. Some of that innocence had now returned to her face.

"When that clock strikes twelve, everything changes. Right now Elphaba isn't our problem. Her demands are."

"She won't win," Regina hissed as she broke free out of Emma's embrace. Her eyes had darkened. "I am not letting her take my life away from me."

"I know," Emma reassured her and took Regina's hand. "Let's go find the others and tell them what happened. We can discuss a plan to keep Henry safe too."

"Not just Henry," Regina reminded her and looked down at Emma's hand holding hers. The thought of losing that, losing all of this just now that Emma and Henry had come back to her, was almost unbearable. "You too, Emma."

Emma swallowed. "I know."

"We should go," David said after casting one last glance at the remains of the well.

The clouds of green smoke had startled to settle down and the world around them slowly started to look normal again. The earth beneath their feet was still cracked but had stopped shaking.

Regina's eyes darkened as she stared at the broken well and her right hand covered her chest. The pain was something she had gotten used to during the year she spent separated from Emma. It had become part of her, part of who she was. It had been the thing that kept her going, what drove her to keep fighting for a way back. But it felt different now. They were here, in Storybrooke, and Emma and Henry were with her. The thought of losing them all over again was something she didn't want to face.

Regina's fingers clawed at the dirt stained fabric of her clothes. Without warning she reached into her chest and didn't flinch when she pulled out her pulsating heart. Eyes full of tears met Emma's and the blonde looked on in horror.

Regina slowly placed the beating heart in the palm of Emma's hand and a lonely tear trickled down her cheek. "This ends here."

Before Emma had a chance to speak Regina vanished into a cloud of purple smoke and all that remained was Emma holding the heart of the woman she loved in her hand.


	18. Chapter 18

"Why would Regina give you her heart?"

Mary Margaret's voice was soft as she spoke. She looked down at Emma sitting on the couch in her apartment, cradling Regina's heart in her hands. It pulsated softly, the regular beating feeling warm and familiar inside Emma's hand. It was dark, just like all the other times she had seen it, but somehow it looked different. It was brighter. More of its natural redness shone through the black and for the first time Mary Margaret truly got to see just how much Regina had changed.

"Maybe she has an idea. Something to do with magic," David suggested. "Maybe she thinks that without her heart…"

Emma shook her head. It was enough to interrupt David's trail of thought and he fell silent.

"That's not it," Emma whispered. Ever since Regina had placed the heart in her hand she had been unable to let go of it. Regina had trusted her with her life. There was nothing more precious in this world that Regina could give her. She couldn't take her eyes off the heart; it rested against her fingers, open and exposed for the world to see both the hope inside of it and all its flaws.

"You know what she's planning, don't you?" Gold asked.

His voice made everyone looked up. They'd forgotten he was here, that he had come with them. As soon as Regina disappeared, they had all returned to the apartment. The minutes were slowly ticking away on the clock and with every passing second, midnight came closer.

Emma nodded. "Nobody knows Regina like I do. I think I've always known but didn't want to admit it to myself. We are far more alike than I ever imagined." Her eyes found Mary Margaret and she could tell that even after everything that had happened, her mother was about to disagree with her. "All we ever cared about was Henry. We always wanted the best for him, even when we didn't see eye to eye. But I knew, deep down. I knew what made her tick. That's why she gave this to me." She looked back at Regina's heart. "Because she knew I'd understand."

Mary Margaret furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Regina isn't about to sacrifice me or Henry to Elphaba," Emma replied. Tears glistened behind her eyes. "She's about to sacrifice herself."

"What?!" Mary Margaret's eyes widened. "What makes you say that? Why?!"

Emma showed her the heart. "This," she said quietly, "is everything Regina is. Her entire being. The person she became. You can see how the darkness is slowly fading. This…" She caressed the heart with her index finger. "This is Regina's very core."

"Her feelings," Gold interjected. "She gave you her heart so she can't feel anymore."

"She still feels," Emma corrected him. "But without her heart, she won't hurt anywhere near as much." She swallowed hard. The lump in her throat was too big and it wouldn't shift. Her grip on the heart tightened, as if in an attempt to bring her back. "Regina's going to let herself die to save me and Henry."

"We need to find her." The determination in David's voice made everyone look up. "We can't let her kill herself. There must be another way to stop Elphaba. One that doesn't involve Regina."

Emma's eyes fixed on Gold. "Now's a good time for suggestions, if you have any."

"How do you kill a witch?" Gold answered. There was a hint of amusement in his eyes and Emma let her gaze wander across his face.

She couldn't hide her disdain and what she saw was the face of a man who took pleasure in the suffering of others, even in a moment like this. He knew they would turn to him for hope and answers and he always managed to turn their despair into am advantage for himself. But right now she saw something else too; she saw the look of a man who felt no remorse for what he was about to do. The glint in his eye reflected only pleasure.

"If you think throwing a bucket of water at her is going to be enough, you're wrong," Emma answered. "It's a very nice theory and all but it doesn't actually work."

"I wasn't talking about a bucket of water, dearie," Gold answered. He cocked his head. "I was talking about history. As a matter of fact, I was talking about your history."

"My history?" Emma frowned and looked at her parents. "Everyone in this room knows my history."

"Not yours specifically, Miss Swan," Gold replied. "The history of the world you grew up in. The books you read when you were little. The stories…"

"You mean…" Emma slowly sat up as the pieces began to fall into place. "You mean like the Witch Hunts?"

"What do you mean, Witch Hunts?" Mary Margaret asked.

Emma took a deep breath. "Between the 1500's and 1600's, people were afraid of things they didn't understand. Any man of woman accused of witchcraft would have to stand trial and if they were found guilty, they would be killed. Most of these people weren't witches, in fact, I doubt any of them possessed any magical qualities at all. Some were mentally ill. Most of these men and women were hanged, which was the preferred methods here in the US. In Europe, they preferred burning witches at the stake…" She stopped and her eyes snapped back at Gold. "That's it, isn't it?"

He merely gave a nod and David looked from Emma back to Gold. "What?"

"That's how we can get rid of Elphaba." Emma clutched Regina's heart a little tighter. "We burn her at the stake!"

Mary Margaret covered her mouth with her hand in horror. "Emma!"

Emma's eyes snapped back at her mother. "This from the woman who tied Regina to a pole and was going to have a knight shoot an arrow into her heart? How's that any more friendly?"

Mary Margaret didn't immediately answer, knowing that her daughter was right. Instead she looked down into her lap and folded her hands. "Ok," she said softly. "If that's what it takes..."

"I'm afraid so," Gold acknowledged. "Now all we need to do is figure out how we're going to get Elphaba onto the stake."

"Leave that to me," Emma said. Her eyes darkened as she felt the anger coil in the pit of her stomach. "I've got an idea."

"You can tell us all about it once we've found Regina," David said and he started for the door. The rest of the group followed and walking out of the apartment felt like stepping into the unknown. "We need to get to her before she does something we'll all regret."

~()~

Storybrooke was small but tonight it felt bigger than ever before. Emma hadn't realised there were so many different places a person could retreat to and hide until she and David started running through the places Regina could have gone. Once they'd discussed her vault at the cemetery, her house, her office, the clock tower and the forest, they looked at each other and came to the realisation that they didn't have enough time to check all those places.

Emma's eyes drifted to the clock tower. It was twenty past ten. Darkness had fallen hours ago and the bitter cold wind whipped around their faces. The traces of winter had been erased. No snow remained on the ground or the rooftops. The streets and shops were abandoned other than Granny's diner. She could see shadows move behind the illuminated glass.

"What are we going to do?" Mary Margaret wondered. "We're running out of time."

"You guys focus on building that stake," Emma decided. Her right hand protectively covered the pocket of her coat. Regina's heart was safely hidden inside it. She could feel it beating even through the fabric. "I'm going to find Regina."

She didn't wait for anyone to call her back; deep down she knew they wouldn't. Nobody stood a chance of finding Regina. This was something only she could do. She didn't know how or why but somehow she knew she would. They had always found each other, even if all the odds were stacked against them. She had found Regina here in Storybrooke even when she didn't remember who she was. It seemed that life had a way of reuniting them when they needed each other the most, even if they didn't know it, and she had to trust that faith right now.

Her feet carried her halfway across town, towards the docks and the harbour. The sea air was mixed with the smell of fish and the wind tucked at her blonde hair. Emma's footsteps echoed off the walls of the surrounding buildings and when she turned a corner she laid eyes on the woman she had been looking for.

Regina stood on the dock, her black coat billowing behind her, a quiet dance to the inaudible music of the wind. Her arms fell down alongside her body and for the first time, from a distance, Emma got to see the true fragility of Regina Mills as she noticed the raven haired woman's shoulders had dropped. It was as if the weight of the world rested on Regina.

"I think you forgot something," Emma said softly as she reached Regina. She reached into her pocket and took out the beating heart. The soft red glow cut through the darkness of the heart. Now that it was so close to its owner, the pulsating became more intense. "This belongs to you, Regina."

Regina looked up. She had been too lost in her thoughts to hear Emma approach. Tears glistened in her eyes. The brokenness of her voice cut through Emma like a sharp edged blade. "You shouldn't be here, Emma."

"Then where should I be?" Emma retorted. "Back in Storybrooke, waiting for Elphaba to show up, waiting for her to kill me?" She carefully took Regina's hand into her own. Regina seemed reluctant but Emma didn't care. "This is where I need to be, Regina. With you. To face whatever comes next, whatever lies ahead. That's why I'm here. That's why you're here, because we're supposed to be doing this together." Emerald eyes found brown. "You're not alone anymore, Regina."

Regina looked at Emma's outstretched hand, at the hear that lay in the open palm. She had looked down upon her own heart several times throughout her life and the sight had always disgusted and infuriated her. But now she got to see it for what it was. Tainted but not broken. Her heart was still a reflection of herself; with shadows that could be erased and the flickering of hope that would give her the second chance she craved.

"I know what you're trying to do," Emma said when Regina didn't answer. "I know you gave me this because you trust me. You trusted me with your heart, Regina. There is no bigger trust than that. But I also know you did this so you didn't have to feel. I know you want to sacrifice yourself for me and Henry but I won't let you do that. I need you, Regina."

"Emma…"

"Don't you see how far we've come? How far you've come? The Evil Queen wouldn't be standing here tonight! You're not that person anymore. You tried, you fought, maybe harder than anybody else. Not too long ago you asked me to let you die as Regina." Emma's voice broke. The tears tasted salty in the back of her throat. "I can't let you do that. I can't let you die."

"Why?"

"Because I love you, Regina. I love the person you are, the person you have become. And I won't let anyone, not even the Wicked Witch, stand in the way of that love finding a chance to grow. We've crossed realms, found our way across different worlds, just to reach this moment. For me to hold your heart in my hand. We've come too far for it to end here. Take it." Emma carefully placed the heart into Regina's hand and smiled through the tears that now trickled down her face. "Take it, Regina."

Regina softly sighed and slowly pulled back her hand. Her brown eyes found Emma's as she pressed her fingertips against her chest. With a soft sucking noise the heart disappeared back inside her body and she let out a breath of relief as the familiar feeling of her heartbeat settled back in.

"I was never going to let you die for me," Emma whispered as she let her arms slide around Regina's neck and pulled the brunette closer. The feeling of Regina's body resting against her own, the familiar scent of her perfume penetrating her nose, made Emma feel at home and she buried her face in the brunette's hair. When she felt Regina's lips press against the soft skin of her neck, her eyes fluttered shut. "I am never going to let you go."

"I know," Regina breathed into Emma's ear. "Before I met you, my soul was a flickering candle, slowly dying out into the night. My heart was as dark as the shadows I surrounded myself with. But you… You brought light back into my life. You lit that candle again and you're letting it burn, its light shining through the darkness and chasing the shadows away. Because of you, Emma, I'm alive."

Emma slowly looked up and her lips found Regina's just as the Queen was about to speak again. The words died on the tip of her tongue as Emma's lips connected with her own and Regina felt the hope and the strength wake up inside of her. As she kissed Emma, the kiss growing more passionate and intense as the seconds began to pass, Regina clung on to the blonde. Emma was right. They had come this far. She wasn't going to let go.

When they broke apart Regina rested her forehead against Emma's. "What are we going to do?"

"We've got a plan," Emma smiled. "We're going to defeat Elphaba but we need your help."

Regina's eyebrow twitched in that way it always did when her curiosity was triggered. "Tell me," she whispered as she let her fingers run through Emma's hair. "Tell me everything."

~()~

Mary Margaret nervously looked at the clock tower behind her. Anxiety was etched across her face and even when David put a comforting hand on her shoulder, it did nothing to erase the uneasy feeling that had settled in her stomach.

"Where is she?" Mary Margaret wondered. "It's half past eleven. Only half an hour left! Where is Emma?!"

"She'll be here," David reassured his wife. He tried to sound certain but he didn't feel it. "She's probably still looking for Regina."

"Not anymore."

Mary Margaret and David turned around when they heard Emma's voice and a smile of relief spread across Mary Margaret's voice when she noticed Regina walking alongside Emma, their hands firmly linked together. She shared a look with David but neither of them spoke.

"Where's Gold?" Emma asked.

"Putting some finishing touches on our handy work," David grinned. "Some magic spell that will bind Elphaba to the stake if she comes within a certain distance of it." There was a pause. "All we need is someone who can bring her close enough for the magic to do its work."

Emma briefly looked at Regina before looking back at her parents. "If that witch wants my heart," she said, the tone of her voice hinting at the anger she felt inside. She let her hand slide out of Regina's. "She'll have to come and get it."

"Time to go," Mary Margaret said as the clock behind then pointed at 11.45. She stepped closer to Emma and cupped her cheek. "We'll be right here when you need us, ok?"

"OK," Emma answered softly. "Now go, before she sees you."

David and Mary Margaret disappeared into the direction of Granny's diner and Emma and Regina walked further along the street, until they found Gold and Belle. Emma's heart skipped a beat when she laid eyes on the large stake that had been built. A tall pole stood in the middle. If everything was to go to plan, Elphaba would meet her end here.

Gold looked up when Emma approached. "Just the person I wanted to see. Listen very, very carefully." He pointed at a large circle drawn in what looked like white crayon. It surrounded the stake. "This is the magical barrier. You need to get Elphaba to cross it for the magic to work. However…" His eyes found hers. "If you both cross it, or you cross it before she does, then the magic turns on you."

"She's not going to cross that line if she can see that thing," Emma pointed out but before she had finished, Gold had waved his hand and the stake disappeared from sight. What remained was a dark line on the street, just about clear enough for her to see.

"Now you see it, now you don't," Gold said. "Simple Invisibility Spell." He chuckled. "Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll join your parents before things get a little bit too hot out here."

He and Belle walked down the street and stepped into Granny's diner. The moment they entered the building, the lights behind the windows went off and the street was dark. There wasn't a sound other than the wind ruffling the branches on the trees. Emma could hear the heavy beating of her own heart as she looked down at the street in an attempt to memorise where the circle was.

An unexpected flash of lightning cut through the ink black sky and it brought a chill to Emma's back. Beside her, Regina stood rigid, her hands balled into fists.

"She's coming."

"Hello again, Regina," spoke a by now familiar voice. "We meet again."

Regina's lips formed a thin line as she watched the dark clad woman stroll towards her. Elphaba's heavy gown seemed to float around her, barely touching the street. Anger flickered in her blue eyes and she cocked her head as she laid eyes on the Queen and the Savior.

"What, cat got your tongue?"

"No," Regina bit back. "But I don't see why I should waste my breath on you."

"Tut tut, such bad manners," Elphaba mocked. "Well, since you don't seem to be in the mood for small talk, maybe we should just get down to business, don't you think?" Her gaze shifted from Regina to Emma. "I see you've made your choice." She grinned. "How does it feel to know she just doesn't love you enough to save you, honey?"

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't because of Regina's love for me," Emma answered sharply. "It's you who doesn't remember what love is."

"Oh but love brought me here. You see, a mother's love for a child is unconditional and endless. You of all people should know that."

Emma took a step forward. "But your love turned into hatred. You let your anger fester inside of yoi and allowed it to take over your entire heart until there was no room left for anything else. You don't love anyone even more. Not even your child. You don't even love their memory. If you did, you wouldn't be here."

"How do you put up with her?" Elphaba mockingly asked Regina. "Does she always talk this much?" She giggled. "It's not like you have to listen to it for much longer anyway." She slowly began peeling off her black gloves. "Now, let's get on with it, shall we?"

"No." Regina's voice was laced with bitterness and anger. She felt the magic race through her body and she slowly relaxed her fingers. The tingling sensation in her fingertips took over. "I can't let you do this, Elphaba. What my mother did to you was horrible but I do not carry her sins with me. I do not pay for her crimes. And neither does Emma."

"And you're going to stop me?" Elphaba asked. "How do you plan to do that, exactly?"

Regina raised both her hands and bright flashes of lightning erupted from her fingertips but before they could reach her target, they were slammed down. An invisible force knocked Regina to the ground and she groaned just before her head hit the street and the world around her faded into black. Drops of blood began to trickle from her nose.

"REGINA!" Emma cried and rushed over to the brunette. She fell down to her knees beside her and gently brushed the hair out of Regina's face. "Regina, can you hear me?"

"Such a shame," Elphaba said. "I was kind of looking forward to this emotional goodbye between the two of you. I guess I'll just have to entertain myself with the thought of Regina waking up and finding you dead."

Emma slowly stood up. Anger was etched across her face. "If you think I'm going down without a fight, you've got another thing coming, lady."

"Oh but I wasn't expecting you to give up easily," Elphaba answered and took a few steps in Emma's direction. "You see, the battle is half the fun."

Emma backed away, her eyes desperately searching for the line she'd seen earlier. It was dark and the streetlights didn't seem as bright as any other night. The moon hid herself behind thick clouds and she came to the desperate conclusion that she couldn't see where the magical barrier was. She would just have to trust her instincts.

"I've been trying to find Regina for a very long time," Elphaba teased. "When I found out Cora had a daughter, I knew I would be able to collect my debt. When I heard Regina has a son, it almost seemed too good to be true. She didn't sacrifice her son tonight but you'll do."

"You know who I am, right?" Emma asked softly. "You know I'm the Savior."

"Of course I know who you are but being the Savior isn't going to help you tonight, Emma. Storybrooke isn't cursed."

Emma stopped walking. "It doesn't have to be cursed for me to still be the Savior." She lifted up her head with pride. "This isn't over."

"Yes, it is," Elphaba snarled and before Emma could blink, the witch was suddenly in front of her.

What she saw in her eyes was hatred. The kind that consumed a person from the inside out and swallowed them up, slowly drowning them in the darkness. She saw the broken soul of a woman who had suffered and who had chosen to use that suffering in her attempt to get revenge. She saw a woman who was lost, so lost in a world that was bigger than she had ever imagined. Someone so obsessed and focused that they had forgotten what else the world had to offer. Someone who had forgotten how to love.

Emma didn't move when Elphaba took one last step. The witch's fingers grazed across her chest but then the ground underneath both their feet disappeared and Emma felt the wind whizz past her ears. She felt her ribs crack as she was smacked against the pole in the middle of the stake, her hands tied behind her back and her feet held down by rope. It was only then that she became aware of the body behind her, of surprisingly warm fingers grazing along the inside of her hands.

"What?!" Elphaba cried out as the rope wound itself around her waist and pinned her against the pole. The outcry had barely escaped her before the flames erupted out of nowhere and slowly began eating away at the wood that surrounded them.

Emma looked down at the flames. They were about five inches from her feet but she could feel the heat. "Shit."

"You tricked me!" Elphaba cried.

Emma turned her head. "In case you haven't noticed, you're not the only one!"

Elphaba cackled. "Oh the irony! I failed to take your heart but here you are… We shall die together!"

"EMMA!"

Emma's head snapped up at the sound of Mary Margaret's voice but she didn't see her.

"The Invisibility Spell must still be in place," Emma whispered. "I can't see them and they can't see me." A frightening realisation set in as beneath her feet the flames inched closer and closer. She could smell the rubber on her shoes beginning to melt and her toes started to feel warm. "Which means they can't get me off this damn thing!"

"Emma, trust yourself!" It wasn't Mary Margaret's voice. It was Regina's. It came from her left. She didn't sound desperate. She didn't sound frightened. She sounded calm. "Emma, I know you can do it!"

It had been a long time. She didn't know if she could still do it. She didn't even know if she still had it. But right now that thought, that glimmer of hope, was all she had. She had to believe she could do this. She had to trust herself.

Emma's eyes slowly closed and she took a deep breath. The putrid smell of smoke and melting rubber filled her nose but she forced her mind to remain empty. She looked for something inside herself; something she couldn't name but she knew she'd recognise it when she found it. She had done it before, to save Storybrooke and Regina. It had worked in Neverland. It would work here too, if she could only trust herself long enough, to actually have faith in herself. If she could only….believe.

The ties around her wrists vanished and suddenly her feet moved. She fell forward, shielding her head from the impact and the flames. When she hit the floor she rolled onto her side, away from the burning stake behind her. A sharp pain travelled through her leg but when she opened her eyes she saw Regina's eyes looking down at her.

"You did it," the brunette whispered softly as she kissed Emma's forehead.

"No," Emma said as she looked over Regina's shoulder. It seemed that her breaking free from the stake had also broken the Invisibility Spell. The stake was in full flame, the fire so bright none of them could look directly into them. There was no sound other than the fire eating away at the wood. "We did it." With Regina's support she sat up. "It's over."


	19. Chapter 19

Storybrooke was quiet. The first rays of morning sunshine had started to chase away the shadows of the night and the skies slowly changed from black to a dull shade of grey. Rain fell, the drops drumming in a monotone rhythm against the window of Emma's room at the inn. She watched the drops slide down the glass. She hadn't slept.

Regina watched the blonde from the other side of the room. It had been hours since they returned to the inn with the hope of getting some sleep after the events that took place in the middle of the night. All the residents of Storybrooke had returned to their homes, their voices full of hope and laughter now that the threat that was the Wicked Witch had been stopped. But since they returned to the inn, Emma had barely spoken a word.

She'd quietly let Regina inspect the wound on her leg. It was a nasty second degree burn, fiery red with large blisters. Since she didn't have access to most of her magical tools, Regina had done her best to heal Emma's leg with the few healing spells she knew. It had reduced the blisters and the redness but she could tell from the way Emma walked across the room that she was still in pain.

Regina shifted on the bed. She too hadn't slept. She and Emma had spent a large part of the night just lying on top of the sheets, their arms wrapped around each other, listening to the other woman's heartbeat. They didn't need words in that moment but now that the hours had begun to pass, the silence was beginning to worry Regina.

"Emma?" she said softly and the blonde looked up. From where she sat Regina could see the dark rings around Emma's eyes. "Emma, you really need to try and get some sleep."

"I'm not tired."

Regina swallowed the reply she was about to send Emma's way. Instead she just sighed. "At least come back here. What are you looking at anyway?"

"Storybrooke," Emma said softly. "I'm looking at Storybrooke."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"When I came here a few days ago, all I wanted was to go back to New York. Even when my memories came back…" Emma looked through the rain stained glass at the world outside. "I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay here. I was going to ask you to come with me to New York but then I saw you there and I knew that that's not where you belong."

Regina furrowed her brow. "What are you saying?"

"I liked New York, Regina. I liked the life you created for me and Henry and I thought for a little while that you could be part of that too. You could have that life, with us. But now I understand that this is your home. Storybrooke is where you belong." Emma looked across the room and her green eyes fixed on Regina. "Storybrooke is your home. You came back here for me."

"What about you?" Regina hesitated. She couldn't believe she was asking this question. It was almost as surreal as hearing Emma say that she had contemplated going back to New York. "Where is your home, Emma?"

"I never had a home," Emma whispered. "Every house I ever moved into was never mine. Every life I ever lived wasn't mine. They were always created for me, with the expectation of me to fulfil some kind of role. But home…" Her voice trembled. "To walk through a door and to know that you're finally home, that you have found that one place that is truly yours… Home is with you, Regina."

Regina slipped off the bed and walked across the room. The windowsill was small but there was just enough room for her and Emma to sit in it together. She pulled her legs up to her chest and followed the blonde's gaze out of the window. Even on a rainy morning Storybrooke looked endearing. "So you're staying?"

"Yeah." Emma smiled. "I'm staying."

"You can move out of this room," Regina said and a little smile spread across her face. She took Emma's hand into her own and brought her fingers up to her lips to kiss. "There's plenty of space in my house and Henry already has his own room."

Emma looked at Regina. They had literally crossed worlds to be where they were right now; sitting in a small window sill watching the rain fall down on the world outside. The world didn't need to be any bigger or more beautiful than this; she had found what she'd been looking for and seeing it right in front of her, seeing the light reflecting in Regina's eyes, made the pain of the journey to reach this moment worth it.

"You think Henry will want to stay?" Regina asked softly.

"I don't think he'll ever want to leave again!" Emma joked. "He loves it here. He loves you, Regina. I don't think I ever got to say this but you did an amazing job raising him to be the person he is now." She chewed her lip. "If you hadn't taken him in when you did, he would have just been…. another me. Lost in the system somewhere, wondering why nobody ever cared enough to love him."

Regina looked at Emma. In some ways they weren't that different. They'd spent their whole lives wondering when somebody would ever love them enough. She looked down at her hand holding Emma's and silently vowed to herself that there wouldn't be a day where she didn't hold this hand. She wasn't going to let go. Not ever again. The road had been long enough to get to this moment and it was time that it came to an end.

"Are you going to tell me about the life you and Henry had in New York?" Regina asked. "You said you were happy."

"The happiest I have ever been in my life," Emma admitted. "And I have you to thank for that. I know that what you created wasn't real but it was real to me, and to Henry. And it gave me something I never had. The feeling that I finally had done something right, that I was doing an ok job at being Henry's mom. Even when you weren't there, you still made me happy." She looked at Regina. "What was it like back at the Enchanted Forest?"

"Lonely," Regina confessed. "Even around your parents and everybody else, I still felt alone. I know you didn't remember me, and that Henry didn't remember me, but I remembered you and knowing I'd never see you again hurt unlike anything else ever before." She chewed the inside of her cheek. "For a while I actually believed that maybe I had a chance at happiness in Storybrooke, with you and Henry. I know we never truly said how we felt but when I said goodbye to you at that town line…"

"I know." Emma smiled. "That's when I knew I was walking away from the one person who could ever see me for who I am, for what I am, and not be scared off by it. I saw it in your eyes and then seconds later, it was all gone."

The memory of leaving Storybrooke with Henry was a vivid one. Emma wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to forget the image of Regina in her rear view mirror, slowly being swallowed up by the purple smoke. Driving down that road, away from the only place she had ever called home, was one of the hardest things she'd ever done.

There was a knock on the door and the two women looked up find Henry poking his head around. He was still wearing his pyjamas and his hair looked ruffled. It seemed that he was the only person who had any sleep at all.

"Hi moms."

"Good morning, Henry," Regina said. "Sleep ok?"

He nodded. "Can we go for breakfast at Granny's? I'm starving."

"Henry, you're always starving!" Emma grinned. "But sure, go get dressed."

He disappeared back into his own room and even from where they were sitting, Emma and Regina could hear him stumbling about. Emma looked at Regina. "I guess we'd better get ready too. Do you want the first shower?"

Regina merely smiled as she slipped out of the window sill. She walked across the room and disappeared into the bathroom. Seconds later Emma heard the shower being switched on and she smiled to herself as she walked to the wardrobe. She didn't bring much with her from New York but she had a couple of clean sets of clothes. She chose a pair of jeans and a black shirt and left them on the bed.

Moments later the door to the bathroom opened again and Regina appeared, clad in only a towel. A sheepish smile lingered across her face. "Emma?"

She turned around. The sight of the drops of water glistening on Regina's skin and the dark hair plastered across her forehead almost took her breath away. "Yeah?"

"You don't happen to have any clean clothes, do you?"

Emma grinned. "Take what I left out. I'll find something else." Her gaze lingered on Regina's face and they stared at each other. Time froze for just a few moments. "You finished in there?"

Regina nodded and walked back into the bedroom. As she past Emma, the blonde let her fingers ghost across the warm, wet skin of Regina's shoulders and both women shivered. She then stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. The bathroom smelt of flower scented shampoo mixed with Regina's natural scent and with a smile, Emma stepped into the shower.

Regina had just zipped up the jeans Emma had left out for her on the bed when there was a knock on the door. Jeans weren't exactly her preferred style of dressing herself but for today she would make an exception. She turned around as the door opened and Henry walked in, freshly showered and dressed.

"Mom, can I talk to you?"

"Sure," she answered. "What's going on?"

Henry fumbled with his hands. "You know how when you sent mom and me back to New York?"

"Yes…"

"You changed mom's last name."

Regina smiled. "Yes, I did. I changed it to Mills."

"Do you… errrr.. do you think you could make that happen again?" Henry peered up at Regina through his eyelashes. A blush had spread across his cheek. "It will make us a real family. With the same last name."

Regina looked over her shoulder when the bathroom door opened and Emma appeared, a towel wrapped around her body and a second one around her hair. She then looked back at her, their, son and she smiled. "Of course, Henry," she promised him and put a hand on his arm. "I'll change Emma Swan into Emma Mills."

"What are you two talking about?" Emma's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Nothing," Regina grinned. She stood up and Henry linked his arm through hers. For now this would be their little secret. She let her eyes trail over Emma's frame and in her chest her heart was suddenly aglow. "Now, who wants pancakes for breakfast?"


End file.
